Should anyone still have doubts about the usability of the nine-euro ticket, the British film “The Last Bus” is recommended. This has nothing to do with German buses or trains; it was also created at a time when the topic of the traffic turnaround in this country was discussed at most in theory. Nevertheless, it goes through as a plea for local public transport. It tells the story of a ninety-year-old who lives in the north of Scotland and wants to go to the south of England. Tom (Timothy Spall) would like to cover the 1300-kilometer journey in regional buses, which he can use free of charge as a pensioner.
Unlike the adventurous Germans who are currently trundling through the country on cheap tickets, adventure is not the focus for him. He’s simply too old for that: what old man would voluntarily squeeze himself into bumpy buses for so long if he didn’t absolutely have to? But Tom has to: he wants to take his deceased wife’s ashes to the place where they once met. In this respect, the German distribution title is a bit misleading: “The Englishman, who got on the bus and drove to the end of the world” is supposed to remind of the long-titled escapades of the jolly “centenarian” by Jonas Jonasson, who in books and films has a wide range of audience reached.
Sometimes there are sheep on the bus, sometimes a suitcase thief
Ninety-year-old Tom also experiences adventures, he sits on the bus with sheep, pursues a suitcase thief or sings a song for everyone at the bus stop. But it’s not particularly bizarre or funny: there is too much sadness about the film for that, there are too many flashbacks to the youth of Tom and his wife Mary, who ended up in the north after a stroke of fate.
In the present, the old man hardly recognizes his country, most people see him as the quirky bus grandpa they know from their social media channels. So they photograph him and make him a little bit more famous. It only gets really nice when he ends up at the birthday party of Ukrainian migrant workers – they are the friendliest people he meets. Although this is only due to the timing of the theatrical release, just like the comparison with the nine-euro ticket, this positive image of Ukraine should be well received by (western) viewers in 2022.
The Scottish director Gillies MacKinnon (“Marrakech – Hideous Kinky”) and his English screenwriter Joe Ainsworth are harsher on their own compatriots: They show people who are sometimes lovable, sometimes unlovable, who drink too much or shout racist slogans. Tom gets thrown off the bus or taken home, but he never loses sight of his goal. Timothy Spall is also responsible for the fact that people don’t worry too much about him: the Englishman is one of the great actors of his generation, known from the films by Mike Leigh (“Secrets and Lies”, “Mr. Turner”). Here, however, he seems a bit out of date: the stiff-waisted ninety-year-old is not always to be believed from the mid-sixties.
The LastBus, UK 2021 – Directed by Gillies MacKinnon. Book: Joe Ainsworth. Camera: George Geddes. Starring: Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, 86 Minutes, Capelight Pictures. Theatrical release: 08/10/2022.