Time can be an esoteric concept even when its nature isn’t being pondered on by the greatest physicists in history. Different cultures have always espoused vastly different beliefs about the concept of time itself or when it is judged to have begun.
Hindus and Buddhists believe that time is cyclical and has no beginning or end but repeats itself. On the other hand, cultures like the ancient Romans and the ancient Chinese began keeping time from the eventsof major historical eventsor in accordance with the different reigns of certain emperors. For Jewish people, time dates back to the point when they believed the world was created by God from the information presented in the Torah. Christian calendars give us our Western notions of time periods that lie on either side of the birth of Jesus Christ.
In contrast, Islamic calendars follow the Hijra year, or the year that the Prophet Mohammed traveled from Mecca to Medina which would have been around AD 622 to Christians. There’s of course also the Big Bang theory and others that attempt to scientifically explain when the universe itself was created.
Since there’s no definitive answer, orat least none that everyone agrees on, there’s been many movies that theoretically included the beginning of time itself. From films set during some of the most poignant times in history to ones that sought to explain the beginning of the universe itself, here are the best movies about the beginning of time and how they relate to this fascinating but intensely debated topic.
1010,000 BC
A film that traversed prehistoric times10,000 BCwas an adventure movie set during a time when people hunted Mammoths. It follows a hunter named D’Leh who is in love with a beautiful tribeswoman named Evolet. When Evolet and D’Leh’s tribesmen are kidnapped by raiders, he sets out on a dangerous journey to rescue her.
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Essentially a movie set before human beings had any modern conception of time, despite its visual appeal and action, it was panned badly by critics and cited as being very inaccurate about the era it was set in. Regardless, it was still a hit at the box and made for a very entertaining film. For humanity, it may be thought of as a film set in a time before time — or at least a time before time as we know it.
According to Christian beliefs, the Earth began as depicted by the Bible’s accounts of God creating the world and initially populating it with Adam and Eve. The Book of Genesis famously charts the family tree that emerged from the fall of Eden, with historical figures like Cain and Abel being among the earliest descendants.
For a comedic take on these times, inYear One,Jack Black and Michael Cera poked fun at religious beliefs from the perspective of a pair of bungling friends who make their way out of the beginning of biblical time and through some of its most poignant moments and places. While the film had some hilarious moments, it bombed at the box office, was critically panned, andgenerated a lot of criticismfor the insensitive way it mocked biblical events.
8Journey to the Beginning of Time
The 1955 Czechoslovak science-fiction film,Journey to the Beginning of Timetold a story that saw four young boys take a boat trip through a “river of time” that winds up in a primeval landscape. As they make it further upstream, they realize that they are actually moving farther back in time as this time vortex essentially seems to exist in a space between time. The boys experience many adventures and get to interact with prehistoric creatures.
7The First King: Birth of an Empire
Ancient Romans followed a similar conception of time to the one that the ancient Chinese did. However, rather than restarting time every time an emperor died, the Romans marked the beginning of timefrom the mythological storybehind the eternal city’s founders and first emperor. That story was of course the epic and beautiful tale of Romulus and Remus, twin brothers who were supposedly raised by a wolf.
According to the legend, the brothers survived being abandoned during infancy when they were suckled by a she-wolf. They would later be adopted by a shepherd, and grow to become strong and capable natural leaders. Eventually, the pair would share a fractious bond that would lead to Romulus murdering Remus and going on to found Rome and serve as its first emperor.
Many of the classical portions of this story were beautifully depicted inThe First King: Birth of an Empire.An Italian-made film, itpaid homage to the proud history of ancient Rome. While it of course took place millennia ago, in terms of ancient Roman beliefs, it depicts the start of their time since some ancient Romans counted their time and history from the year that Rome was founded.
6Gautama Buddha
Buddhism has no creator theory to explain the origin of time or the universe. It instead postulates that everything depends on a kind of cause-and-effect system. Linear time has a similar belief, though not one that actually repeats itself since the past creates the future, which becomes the present, and in turn creates the future again. Due to Buddhists' belief system, it can be said that their beginning of time started with Buddha himselfsince all Buddhist beliefsare attributed to him. Unlike Islamic belief, which strictly prohibits any depictions of Prophet Mohammed, there have been many depictions of the Buddha in film. The 2007 film,Gautama Buddha, was probably one of the best among these.
The person known around the world as Buddha is a historical person named Siddhārtha Gautama,who was believed to have lived during the 5th century B.C. Gautama was born in ancient Nepal the equivalent of a prince, but was so moved by the suffering of the world that he renounced all violence and sought to find a means to end suffering and in the process, created a new path to salvation, forever changing the lives of millions of followers around the world.
An amazing film and a huge hit at the Indian box office, it beautifully told the tale of the greatest pacifist the world has ever known and the beginning of a new time for the world of spirituality.
5The Last Emperor
A biographical film, it told the story of Pu Yi (John Lone), known as the last emperor of China. It charts Yi’s troubled reign and his capture by the Red Army, who tried him as a war criminal. From prison, Pu Yi reflects on childhood and life before. As revolution defined that era of China, the world of Chinese emperors was effectively ended and a new time began. An amazing film,The Last Emperorwas nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Regardless of how different cultures tell time or when they believe it began, for theHomo sapiensspecies, there was once an era where there was no time. Not because it didn’t exist, but because the human race was still too early in its journey to yet have any modern concept of it.Alphawas another great film that was set in prehistoric times, which essentially made it a film about a time before time, when humans used the elements and natural means like lunar cycles to mark its passage.
The film captured the raw reality of humans vs. nature through a story of a young prehistoric boy who gets separated from his father and the men of his tribe during a coming-of-age ritualistic hunt. He manages to survive a host of natural dangers and even tames a wolf in the process. The film was packed with action and featured some beautiful cinematography. A treat for dog lovers,Alphaalso depicted the beginning ofthe bond between humans and dogs.
3Seeing the Beginning of Time
As far as the actual beginning of everything according to astronomers and physicists,Seeing the Beginning of Time, wasan awe-inspiring documentaryfilm that tried to take viewers to this exact moment. Following some remarkable innovations in technology, powerful telescopes have been designed for this purpose and provide some unbelievable views of space and time.
Mapping and exploring the cosmos gives viewers some unique and truly mind-bending insight into the birth and formation of early galaxies. Essentially the work of all involved push boundaries of star gazing to unimaginable new frontiers as the data is then used to answer some of the most perplexing questions about the origin of the universe from a scientific perspective. A must-watch for space and cosmos enthusiasts,Seeing the Beginning of Timeis both a visual treat and an amazing look at the universe in more glorious detail than we’ve ever been able to see it before.
2Apocalypto
Mel Gibson’s 2006 historical epic,Apocalypto,was a brilliant film that did well at the box office and found critical acclaim too. The movie was set in Yucatán, Mexico, and takes place around the year 1502. It provides fictional depictions of Maya life in a Mesoamerican rainforest and the struggles they face to survive the elements, nature, and each other. In some graphic detail, the last reign of the Mayan people is depicted, as it essentially acted as a bridge between one historical era ending as another begins.
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The ancient Mayans developed complex calendars and used cyclical events to develop a sense of time. Famously, one of these cycles, known as the long count, was due to end on June 22, 2025. However, back in the 1500s, a more significant time cycle had begun. As the end ofApocalyptoshows, the 1500s were when the first Spanish conquistadors arrived. Their arrival marked the beginning of the end of the ancient Mayans, essentially starting the time period in history when the modern world of Latin America as we know it today began.
1The Theory of Everything
Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Stephen Hawking inThe Theory of Everythingwas a majestic performance that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Some of Hawking’s most pivotal scientific theories are depicted in the film as it charts the brilliance and tragic suffering that defined so much of the iconic physicist’s life. Among these highlights was Hawking’s thesis where he posits that a black hole created the universe through the Big Bang in a manner that will emit heat and lead to “The Big Crunch.”
According to Hawking, the Big Bang implied an original singularity or a moment that he theorized contained all the energy and space-time of the Universe. The life and brilliant work of Hawkingwas beautifully presentedby Redmayne in the film. Its title also acted as an ode to the fact that his work was so significant, it basically sought to answer how everything as we know it first came into being.
