Missing Link

Missing Ling is a 1988 film written and directed by Carol and David Hughes, starring Peter Elliott as the "Man Ape" and narrated by Michael Gambon. It follows one of the last Australopithecine as he struggles to survive against the rising of Homo.
==Summary==
The film follows the last of the man-apes (Peter Elliott) as he wanders through the wilderness after his tribe has been slaughtered by the aggressive Homo who have invented the ax and have learned to make use of fire. He journeys through a savanna, an oasis, a desert, and eventually reaches the shores of a beach. Along the way, he avoids the archaic Humans that killed his tribe and witnesses many fantastic sights of wildlife. After experiencing a hallucination brought on by ingesting a hallucinogenic plant (possibly a reference to the stoned ape theory), he realizes the stone ax that he has been carrying after finding it at the site where his tribe was killed is a weapon. When he comes across a human footprint at the ocean shore, he sniffs it and then starts hitting it, wanting revenge against the humans. But he then relents and tosses the ax into the ocean. The closing scene has him sitting mournfully on the beach as the sun sets. The closing text states that the "man-apes" were likely the first species humanity pushed into extinction.
==Setting==
The film is set in Africa during the Lower Paleolithic, around 1 million years ago, at a time when the Australopithecine were being displaced by the early members of the genus Homo. These archaic humans are possibly Homo habilis, Homo ergaster or Homo erectus, but they are never named in the film. They are only addressed as "man" and from the few scenes where they are showed, they vaguely resemble modern humans.
==Details==
*According to the on-screen text, the "man ape" belongs to the species Australopithecus robustus. This species is presently (as of 2024) classified within the genus Paranthropus, which is distinct from the genus Australopithecus and Homo, however there's still some scientific debate and disagreement over this taxonomical classification. In 1988, at the time of the film's production, the species was still commonly described as A. robustus.
* The film is available at the Internet Archive.
==Starring==
*Peter Elliott as Man-Ape
*Michael Gambon (narrator)
Category:Films set in Prehistory
Category:Films set in the Paleolithic
Category:Films set in the Lower Paleolithic