Must-watch movie for this weekend: “The Survival Family”

It’s called “The Survival Family (Sabaibaru famirî)”.

Yes, it’s Japanese and you have to read a bit. Nope! Don’t think about the subtitles...  Don’t!
Just watch it and thank me later.

I don’t want to ruin it for you guys because I went into it knowing nothing about it and it made it so much better.
Dont even watch the trailer.
Lets just say it’s the typical SHTF scenario talked about so much, but presented without all the Hollywood carap that we know ruins these type of movies by making them so freaking stupid and predicable, with plastic, unrealistic people that dont do a single thing a normal person would. Like fast food for the brain.
Not this little gem.

No idea if its on Netflix right now, but do yourself a favor, find it and watch it. Drop a comment when you’re done.
Enjoy!

FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

“Leave No Trace”: A movie every Prepper should watch

“Leave No Trace” (yes, its available in Amazon) is a genuinely good movie. You may like it more or less but it is certainly good, enjoying a Rotten Tomato rating of 100% critic and 86% audience at the moment.

It is family friendly, not violent in any way, so feel free to drop it in the list for this weekend.
The movie starts with a father and his teen daughter living in the woods, away from society. That’s as far as I will go, no point in ruining a good movie.
What I will say though is that the main point of the movie is one that many preppers and survivalists can certainly relate to. One I’ve seen somewhat regularly when meeting with other survivalists: The desire to escape society, escape people. It is a recurring topic and it is found to a greater or lesser degree but it is there quite often. Its folks that don’t mind or actually enjoy being alone (most of us in this community are a bit like that) most prefer avoiding crowded, big cities, some avoid even small towns and live a bit away from them, others try to live as far from anyone else as they can possibly get. Some people have real problems having friends, basic neighbourly interactions or even having a family. It is a topic brought up every now and then in the forums, about preppers and survivalists that are alone, and yes, at times feel lonely.

This is one of the main topics of the movie and it is somewhat of a real concern for some folks in our community. Personally, I don’t think that in my case it is that bad. My family helps a lot. I always knew I wanted to get married and have kids, and at least that part comes naturally to me. I honestly don’t have to “work” at making my marriage work like I sometimes read that you’re supposed to. So I guess I’m lucky in that regard. But I also see how with that particularly screw in my head tightened another half a turn or so, I could have easily ended up being that guy alone in a cabin in the woods.
“No man is an island” according to John Donne and I agree. In my opinion a modern survivalist, the way I conceive survivalism, is both capable of going at it alone or working in a group, being part of society, not escaping from it. In fact, I’d say building up relations and a network of people is one of your greatest assets. And why not, having friends is not only a tactical choice but also a way of enjoying life more.

Is it always easy? No, not always. And the lone wolf thing comes much easier to most of us than it does to most people, but I think its something we do have to work in keeping at check, stay reasonable. I know of cases in which survivalism turned into doom worshiping, paranoia and ended up consuming people’s lives.

We have to stay reasonable, balanced, understand what’s good for us and work in those things that may not come to some of us as naturally.
Take care

FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”

Sarajevo war movie: Shot Through the Heart (1998)

Just saw it and its worth watching. Real life survival folks, and it wasnt that long ago. The big survival lesson here? Yet again, know when to leave.

Survival movie: “The Survivalist”

http://www.survivalistfilm.com/
A very good film to keep in mind for those interested in survival and preparedness. If you get the chance, it’s worth watching.
The film is very intense and it is rated R, so keep that in mind if you have children.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Mad Max: Fury Road – Just Amazing!!

Recommend Movie: Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes)

Those of you that have been following me for some time probably have an idea of what life is like in Argentina. Because of the topics I usually write about, I end up focusing a lot on negative aspects rather than the positive ones. Relatos Salvajes or Wild Tales does a great job in showing that wild, brutal side. Because of non-stop corruption, because of class hate, because of impunity, because of bureaucracy that drives you nuts for days while in any sane country you could fix it with a 5 minute phone call, because of all these reasons people in Argentina tend to be stressed and on the edge of erupting in violence. Relatos Salvajes is a movie about just that, about people exploding violently in different circumstances. Some of the jokes, slang and expressions are so typical Argentine that may be lost in those that weren’t born there but still, being as objective as I can be it has to be one of the best films I’ve seen in 2014 and 2015 so far and that’s why its an Oscar nominated movie. Violent, but if you like dry, dark humor don’t miss it.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Survival Movie Review: GoodBye World

Goodbye World is not a very good movie (IMDb rating 5.5/10) but if you can catch it on Netflix or elsewhere its not that awful either. Dont expect much action or shooting in spite of the epic looking cover, there's practically none of it.

While there’s lots to be desired in terms of movie quality, most of all the script and bland story development, there are a few points worth noticing about how the group fares after the world seems to officially end :

1)People are all different and there’s some friction between the different character, given their personal views.  Even in a hand-picked survivalist group you would see far worse conflict and clashes of personalities, some of it violent even. Keep in mind that most homicides are perpetrated by family or friends.

2)Other than the little girl, we're looking at a group of young, fit, healthy and overall smart people. If you pick ten random people from society, from any country, you wont be that lucky. In spite of the overall liberal/hippie mentality of the group, you have a "prepper/self reliant type", a tech guy, a gov. official with insiders knowledge who also happens to be an eagle scout.

3)The bearded character has a house with plenty of supplies, solar, well, etc. The weak spot being his anti-gun mentality, other than that he's got a nice amount of supplies. Granted, safety is a key priority, but he’s still better prepared than most. Benjamin (conspiracy guy) actually carries around as EDC a Leatherman Wave. That alone makes him better prepared than 99% of people out there.

4)The “no one will bother us so far up the hill” mentality proves to be wrong, as it would in reality, and the same lady that sells items at pre-SHTF prices to her neighbor because she says she wouldn’t take advantage of the situation, a few days later she’s along with the group that is willing to steal medicines and supplies from that same neighbor. That’s a good message right there. You may think everyone will play nice because they do so now, but when desperate enough even your long time good neighbors will come after you.

5)The self-reliant, salt of the earth country guy living down the road is actually all about cooking meth. Again, feel-good idea about all country people being good and everyone from the city being evil and lazy just isn’t true. You’ve got all sorts of people in different places. Meth labs and pot farms are more often than not found in the country.

6) While some may frown at the use drugs and heavy drinking, it is part of society and a lot of people do so or worse. There’s plenty of people out there that are just as addicted to prescription drugs. Drug abuse of legal or illegal drugs will become a problem for a lot of people after SHTF.

7)There’s some promiscuous behavior in the movie, again, much worse happens in the real world. At least the girl sleeping around was clearly more than twenty years old. Plenty of girls do much worse and aren’t even old enough to drive. With social collapse, expect moral collapse as well.

8)Safety concerns are greatly underestimated and in the movie, it was very much PG-13 safe. In reality what would have happened during the first encounter with “hostiles” would have been far worse than that. Its very naïve to think that quoting the constitution magically stops a couple sociopaths with ARs. 

9)At the end the message that we all have to work together is a positive one, and I agree that no man (or group) is an island. Reality shows us time and again that a man alone or even survivalist groups, no matter how tactical they think they are, have 0 chance of long term success when surrounded by a hostiles. You can win a fight or two, but shooting raiders and living to fight another day is no long (or medium) term solution.

10)The eco-friendly prepper/self-reliant guy suffers the lack of defensive preparations, as it would happen in the real world (again, watered down compared to how it would happen in reality)

Overall an average movie that shows a few interesting aspects about group survival, even if it’s a PG-13 version of what would happen for real, where violence would have been worse than rated R. 

FerFAL

Movie Review: The Divide (2011)

 Warning! Before you even look this movie up, BIG warning: Its rated R and probably should be NC17, it contains scenes of extreme violence. Clearly not for everyone.

That being said, the movie is about a handful of ordinary people that manage to rush into a fallout shelter just as they see the bombs going off.  Telling any more about the plot would spoil it so I’ll leave it at that. The acting was between very good to average and while the movie has its moments I probably wouldn’t recommend it if not for the psychological aspect of people locked in a bunker under extreme conditions. What happens when food start running low, when the worst of people surfaces, what happens when certain characters gain leadership and how others subordinate to them.
Again, a film with lots of violence of all kinds, but then again that may as well be what happens if you end up locked in a bunker with a group of random people.
Verdict: If you’re interested in survival topics and can put up with some gut wrenching scenes, then yes, watch it.
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FerFAL

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

I watched “The Hunger Games” this weekend with my wife.
The film is basically about a futuristic reality TV show where 24 kids have to survive in a forest and basically kill each other until only one is left alive. There’s some survival elements in the movie, the heroine of the story is a bow hunter and knows how to gather food, set traps, etc. Her mentor explains the importance of shelter and water and early in the movie she ends up with a kit that includes matches, crackers, beef jerky, sleeping bag, NV goggles, snare wire, rope, iodine, water flask and the backpack itself which she uses to stop a knife thrown at her that she manages to secure as well.
But whats in my opinion even more relevant is the idea of a totalitarian government that eventually kills people for control through fear, while using it as entertainment with the masses cheering in approval. Given the mind numbing stupidity and insanity of reality TV shows and how governments keep taking away people’s rights, this kind of fiction movie hits a bit too close to home.
The Hunger games is actually a novel trilogy but it seems more oriented to teens and its not the type of book I´d waste my time reading. Still, it makes an ok movie. The flick is pretty decent, mostly thanks to the solid performance by Jennifer Lawrence, the same girl from “Winter’s Bone”. Thumbs up.
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FerFAL

Movie Recommendation: Phase 7

This is an Argentine movie that some of you have been recommending. By pure coincidence I watched it too just a few days ago and while not Oscar material (67% at Rotten Tomatoes), I did enjoy it a good bit.
Its about a couple caught during the spread of a pandemic in downtown Buenos Aires, how they react to it, and such, with a bit of dark humor thrown here and there. I suppose lots of its sarcasm is lost in translation, but for a native Argentine Spanish speaker it does have its moments.
It´s interesting how in the begging of the movie it shows a bit of looting and people running around the supermarket where the main characters are at, yet they don’t seem to care much about it. That’s a clear nod to the sadly often seen scene, showing how you can become indifferent and react with apathy to situations that should otherwise stress you to some degree. The couple though, just goes on as if nothing happens.
See if you can catch it on Netflix. Don’t expect a great movie, but something ok to watch while eating popcorn and watching something different within the survival genre.
If you watched it and want to comment on it or want to recommend something else click on the link below.
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FerFAL

SHTF video games/movies...‏

Hello Fernando,

First, I want to compliment you on having such an excellent and useful blog. I have purchased and enjoyed your book, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others who are interested in truly surviving and thriving in a world becoming more unstable on a daily basis. I discovered your site during the whole 'Coast to Coast JWR controversy', and if there's one positive thing which can be said about that incident, it's that you now have one more avid fan. Thank you for promoting a realistic presentation of survivalism rather than one that's not grounded in reality - as is the majority of survivalism currently being peddled in America.

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching and video games and DVD movies being pretty much a staple of modern day gift giving, do you know of any which you feel accurately reflect a SHTF/TEOTWAWKI scenario to a reasonable degree? While there are a TON of post-apocalyptic movies and video games out there to choose from, which do you feel comes the closest to representing what really happens in a societal collapse similar to what happened in Argentina? Or are there any out there at all?

It seems that SHTF would be a great topic to develop - especially for a video game, given the current world situation and exploding interest in survivalism . One can almost imagine the possibilities: it could be an RPG scenario with preparedness as its primary objective, or maybe a shooter with staying alive as the main focus - or of course some combination of the two. The possibilities are endless, and it could serve both as individual entertainment and of course, as training.

I hope I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here, as there may be some games/films out there which already represent what I've described. I don't mind a little SciFi, but I'm pretty well saturated to the point of madness with games/films of buxom Amazons kickboxing and blasting their way through hordes of post-apocalyptic zombies. I've seen you mention and advertise the Fallout series of games on your blog, and they look interesting. I don't have much experience with them, although I have recently picked up Fallout New Vegas. Haven't had a chance to really get into it yet.

Thanks for all the hard work that you do, Fernando, in putting together your book and maintaining your blog, and good luck in your plans on immigrating to the United States. I hope you are eventually successful in your endeavor, as such talented and resourceful individuals such as yourself should be welcomed here with open arms.

Hasta Luego

Rodrigo

Hi Rodrigo, nice to have you on board. Actions speak lauder than words and people that have met me have a pretty good idea of who I am.

 Lets just say that if, for example, you boast about how charitable you will be after the end of the world, yet you claim not to have enough money to pay those that you refer to as your “correspondents” for their work, then those words are empty indeed.

Its like we always say guys, if you just talk about how great (or generous, or brave, etc)  you’ll be “after SHTF”, that means nothing. Its what you do NOW that matters. That goes for training, personal and home security, working out, getting rid of debt, sorting out your life, your finances, your job, your relationship with your family and loved ones, taking care of things now, not later. Its specially pointless when you make all these plans for after the end of the world, specially since the world isn’t ending any time soon. Pretty convenient. Survival reality vs Survival Fantasy is topic that I’ll cover in another post. I’ve written about it before but its worth revising, specially these days where everything on TV  is “Survival” “Apocalypse”, “End of the world” and such. Unfortunately this confuses people who honestly want to prepare for real world events, yet end up wasting time, money and energy in things that aren’t useful, preparing for events that occur in movies rather than the real world.

Holydays are just around the corner indeed. Before I forget I’d like to mention something. I’ve received several emails about dropping the price of my book for a few days. Readers such as yourself have read it, liked it and want to give it away as a gift for loved ones for Christmas. The book has been selling beyond my own expectations for over a year now in spite of the high price, (Thank you SO much, all of you!) so I’ve decided to drop the price 40% ($10 drop in price) so that those interested can buy more to give away. This will not be permanent, just a couple days, after that I’ll go back to the 24.95 price which is the price that allows me to keep writing and blogging.

Back to your email, can’t say I find much practical info in most end of the world movies. Mad Max is fun but other than the fun factor what are you learning? Fun is good enough though, so I highly recommend it! :-)

Alive is a good movie and most of you have seen it already I guess. Makes it painfully clear how important it is to have food, water, shelter and means of signaling/communication. A little planning goes a long way, specially when traveling in the Andes.

I liked The Road, actually liked the movie better than the book. Didn’t like the writing style, no matter what critics say.

Savior and Empire of the Sun are both good movies that show what happens to people that get caught in a war. Savior was pretty accurate in terms of how unrealistic it was regarding facing superior forces, when hiding and evading is your only option. The Empire of the Sun has lots of good stuff in it. I’ve watched it as a kid a long time ago, saw it again this year a couple times and always found new bits of food for thought. Its based on the personal experiences of the novel author, so its realistic enough to learn one or two things from it.

If you want something from Argentina, there’s “The Take” which is a Canadian documentary, workers reopening the factory that broke, leaving them without jobs, turning it into a worker cooperative.

“Bombon: The Dog”, is about a 50 something year old knife seller that doesn’t find anyone that can afford his knives in the post 2000 Argentina, at 50 he’s not likely to find a job either. His luck start to change for better after a good Samaritan action gets him a Dogo Argentino. Haven’t seen this movie but its on my short list since I’ve heard good comments.

Regarding videogames, similar to Argentina’s 2000 crisis? I don’t think that would be a fun videogame to play. :-) Bored, jobless and worried about being mugged or shot isn’t good videogame material. Maybe they could do a free roam game with some of those elements, a bit of bartering, job hunting and shooting, but soon enough it would get unrealistic because otherwise it wouldn’t be fun. Starts to sound like GTA, and its true that criminals here get away with that kind of stuff.  I just don’t think there’s nothing you’ll be learning from them regarding real survival, but hey, as long as its fun that’s all I ask of a video game. 

I’ve been playing Fallout: New Vegas these days. It’s been several months since I turned the xbox on, not much free time to play with a family, training, writing and other activities. Maybe its missing that coolness found in the old Fallouts, I and II, but if you liked Fallout III you’ll sure enjoy Fallout: New Vegas.  Fallout New Vegas mentions that you can shoot 38 Special and 44 special out of 357 magnum and 44 magnum guns so that’s a bit of real info there. The character also uses reloading benches he finds occasionally and can put together ammo if he has the cases, primers, powder and lead. That’s as far as it goes in terms of reality.

If anyone has other recommendations, both movies and videogames, I’d like to hear them so please comment.

Take care Rodrigo,

FerFAL

PS: Just changed the price to 14.95 but it said it may take up to 5 days until the price is updated.