this film is so bad, it can be described in three simple word's...

The reason there are trees is because nothing was bombed. The West Coast was simply soaked with radiation from the East.

And walled-off communities are perfectly believable, I mean we have gated communities right now. But if you want a good explanation, read the excellent book. People were scared, secluded... It was for safety.

And as for order and organized forces, well... read the book!! Soon after the war there were harsh anti-technology riots, as well as EMP bombs detonated in the atmosphere, that destroyed most electronics.

Bethlehem's Army is sort of a new-age Anarchist army, which makes sure there is no surviving army men or police officers, my absorbing all forces into itself. It is the Army of Nathan Holn, who is the book was the man that created an insurrection inside the United States soon after the war, while the U.S. was shaky in the legs. The anarchist uprising toppled the government.

See: Cincinattus
See: The Postman (book) by David Brine as I recall.

[SF_not_Sci-Fi]

Originally posted by wavelength
The anarchist uprising toppled the government.

I like the sound of that

Maybe I'll check it out...

[Kieraganion]

I actually injoyed this movie, but then again I have never had a cat-scan. The thing wrong about it, as every seems to agree, is that it was way to long.

The author's name is David Brin. Films in the post-apocalyptic genre always have their silly elements. The Road Warrior for example---gas is more important than food? The Omega Man---a microbe that makes you wear horror movie drag and speak without contractions? The Postman was genre fiction, as as such, had to operate within certain parameters. For me, it functioned well enough. There was plenty of wasteland evident in the beginning of the film; as for the still verdant areas, why would anybody bomb Oregon, where the bulk of the story takes place?

I like long movies. Fight for your right to a long attention span.

[supernathan]

no joke, ive even had a cat scan before, i can qoute the whole movie forwards, and maybe even backwords. of couse its long, its a long story, it could hae been another 3 hours for all i care. i love it because it shoes so many points of what people are really like, scared pathetic little creatures, even the holnist were scared of general bethleham. it is an amazing social commontary on par with hamlet.

I like the film "The Postman" (I don't understand why so many others do not) but it ain't as good as the "Mad Max" series. The only minor fault of the film is that we do not get much background (in Mad Mad 2, for example, we get the background of what created the apocalypse - i.e. Middle Eastern warfare in countries like .. Iraq). Here is an attempt to explain what happened prior to "The Postman":

2001: September 11 terrorist attacks on USA by Osama bin Laden.
2001: Nathan Holn recruits more to his neo-Nazi army following the attacks.
October-December 2001: Al Qaeda-supported regime in Afghanistan toppled by US forces.
March-May 2003: Iraqi regime toppled by American forces. Nathan Holn sends funds to Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Iraqi resistance.
June-December 2003: Iraqi resistance still wage war
December 2003: Ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein captured.
January 2004 – January 2006: Iraqi war continues despite elections of new government there.
2006-2007: Resistance increases in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. USA and Islamic Republic of Iran sign an historic non-aggression pact and strategic alliances in the face of their common enemy: rising fundamentalist Wahabiism.
2008: Pakistani military regime toppled by the Taliban. Saudi Royal Family flee their country following revolutionary upheavel in the Arabian peninsula. The governments of Kuwait and Yemen also fall. The new Islamic Emirate of Arabia signs alliance with the Islamic Emirate of Pakistan, and Pakistan’s increasingly hostile relations with Afghanistan, Iran, India and China develop into war. Nathan Holn develops even closer relations with middle Eastern terrorists and sends them funds and chemical and biological weapons.
2009: Nuclear confrontations between Pakistan and India create havoc in Kashmir and the Southern ex-Soviet Union states. Shiite-Sunni hostility intensifies across the region. Iran and China refrain from using their nuclear weapons for the time being. The US President reaches all-time low popularity ratings after he decides to launch a war against Arabia and Pakistan.
2010: After a bloody nuclear war in the Middle East (which involves the destruction of Israel and as a result most of Syria and Lebanon too), Arabia and Pakistan are defeated. However, their ex-leaders back terrorists to attack US and UK cities with dirty bombs in relaliation for outsing them. Oil supply is also targeted and the Iranian and Iraqi governments falls due to the impending recession. The ex-Shah’s son tries to lead Iran for a time, but is overthrown but civil war engulfs the entire region making the functioning of any state their difficult. USA sends in 1000s of troops to try to secure the oil supply, but confront the Russian and Chinese military there later in the year (after hardliners stage coups in both nations). Fullscale war breaks out but Russia and China are devastated (and so is most of Asia and a good deal of Europe). Governments all over the world fall. Terrorist attacks become widespread everywhere, often toppling governments. Al Qaeda and the United Army of Nathan Holn have common aims to eliminate the US government and so spread biological warfare all over North America. Billions die across the world, as the stock markets collapse. The start of a 3 year winter commences.
2011: Insurgents wage a civil war in America against the government, which struggles to defend food and fuel supplies from terrorist warlords. However, the Battle of Georgetown sees the US government defeated by Holnists, Al Qaeda terrorists and others. However, it is the Holnists who come out as the winners as the Al Qaeda disperses back to the Middle East. Nathan Holn becomes President of the new as of yet unnamed country. His rule is similar to that of Adolf Hitler. Only white people are welcome (inclusive of Americans, Europeans, and Arabs), religion has to honour the cult of Holn and everyone has to serve in his army if necessary. However, Holn himself dies of radiation sickness, leaving his more evil deputy (who was overseer of the worst Holnist attrocities during the wars) General Bethlehem (real name unknown) in charge. Holn was a pragmatist (who saw himself as needing to broaden his leadership style to strengthen his power-base) but Bethlehem was a psychopath with a rather ordinary personality and background who “got lucky”. Most of the rest of the world is in a similar state and no communications whatsoever exist between countries.
2012: Holnists become feared all over former USA and Canada.
2013: Holnist regime toppled by The Postman and his allies.
2014: The road back to normality.

[Optimus Prime]

Just remember, this film was 'very loosely based' on the aforementioned book by David Brin (which I have in hardcover). It was written in 1985, and leave it to an unregistered's idea of what led to the post-apocalyptic mess and blame it on Muslim terrorists.

[HighWiredSith]

Originally posted by Unregistered
If you want to see a long Kevin Cosner movie, watch
JFK.

It has lots of big stars and good acting. It has

Kevin Costner
Gary Oldman
Tommy Lee Jones
Donald Sutherland
Sissy Spacek
Kevin Bacon
John Candy
Joe Pesci

and many more.

Buy the DVD

Rent the Postman if you really want to see it but don't buy it because buying is for forever.
Unless you really love it, cause its okay but not a blockbuster by far.

Dances With Wolves is longer...and better. JFK was a bit more of a delving into the paranoid delusional mind of Oliver Stone than I cared to go.

[Iwata]

Damn that liberal media!

[HighWiredSith]

Here, Here! I'll not be a pawn of the big media machine! Besides, it seems clear that Elvis killed JFK and Stone didn't even mention it.

[Iwata]

Next up: Stone's "Watergate: How two Cable repairmen brought down a President and then the Dems lied about it".

[HighWiredSith]

I thought Forrest Gump was responsible.

[Iwata]

Now there's a damn fine movie that I'm yet to add to my DVD collection.

[HighWiredSith]

How can you call yourself a true Southerner and not own that film?

[toomuchcoffee]

What was that movie that Costner did with Eastwood, where Costner plays a bad guy who kidnaps a little kid and ends up getting shot at the end. I remember being quite impressed by Costner in that movie. It's been awhile, so maybe I would change my mind if I saw it again, but I'm pretty sure that he did a good job in that movie.