The Environment and Earth, In Your
Fragile Human Hands (And Under Your Feet): To Harm Further Or To Heal Future?,
That Is The Question
The Popcorn Reel Movie Review: "The 11th Hour"
By Omar P.L. Moore/August 17, 2007
Planet Earth: ours to have and to hold, or to destroy and make extinct.
(From the film's poster, courtesy: Warner Independent Pictures)
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Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners craft an urgent and
priceless documentary that is a must-see at all costs. Ambitious,
disturbing and packed with mind-blowing and fascinating facts, absorbing the
challenging and thought-provoking "The 11th Hour" is a very small price to pay
in order to be encouraged to do the minor everyday things to reduce the
onslaught of climate change and global warming that threatens the earth and the
humans who inhabit it.
Human behavior is examined in the film an incisive way, with psychological
analysis and introspective discourse. In sometimes despairing tones and in
moving episodes, humankind is challenged to rise above self-destruction and move
toward self-preservation. Even so, "The 11th Hour" doesn't indict human
behavior as much as it beckons human beings to rise above their own flaws,
indifference, selfishness and laziness to take advantage of the unique
opportunity to help curtail and abate the rapidity of global warming.
Consumerism and patterns of human consumption are examined and challenged in
ways that unsettle and will provoke conversation. And television news
footage of Hurricane Katrina ("Katrina is just the tip of the iceberg," warns
one executive during the film), the destruction of trees and forests throughout
the world, and mass death following the December 26, 2005 tsunami are just a few
of the horrific events that are shown in the film. "The 11th Hour" takes
aim at environmental racism, the practice of putting bus depots, incinerators,
power plants and waste facilities and hazardous centers that aren't placed in
affluent or predominantly white neighborhoods into black or Latino
neighborhoods.
Kenny Ausubel, founder of the environmental organization Bioneers, during
Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners' documentary "The 11th Hour", which
opened today in New York and Los Angeles, and will open next Friday in more U.S.
cities, including San Francisco. (Photo and copyright 2007: Eleventeen
Productions, LLC via Warner Independent Pictures)
Imagery powers the opening few minutes and throughout "The 11th Hour", which
opened today in New York and Los Angeles, and further unfolds with fact after
fact about the severity of the conditions inhabiting the earth. Talking
heads populate the film, but these are the heads of the world's foremost
experts, scientists, academicians and activists on the environment. No
less than fifty of them dispense knowledge and research that is staggering.
Frequently is it astounding to comprehend the scale and gravity of the situation
that the earth's environment is truly in, but equally as profound are the
relatively simple collective steps that people can take on a daily basis to
change the future. The great challenge for the filmmakers is not
only conveying the grim news to those who may or may not have been aware of just
how troubled the earth is, but to also make the experience of viewing their
documentary an "entertaining" one.
Enter Leonardo DiCaprio.
Mr. DiCaprio, who ten years ago as Jack won the hearts of billions of women
around the world in the most successful film of all time in "Titanic", narrates
"The 11th Hour" as an long-time environmental activist. Unlike James
Cameron's disaster epic about the 1912 sinking ship, DiCaprio seeks to avert a
disaster here, one that is already unfolding and sinking the planet into a far
more dangerous crisis and abyss. He imprints his feelings about the state
of the environment and the passionless responses from those in power, in his
narrative voice, for all to hear: "Our political and corporate leaders
have consistently ignored the overwhelming scientific evidence," DiCaprio
says. Here, Mr. DiCaprio, one of the producers of the film, is firmly in
his element, delivering a pointed message throughout. Not unlike "An
Inconvenient Truth", the camera occasionally (but to a much lesser degree) makes
the megastar actor the focal point of the film, following him as he travels
around, although unlike last year's Oscar-winning documentary, doesn't cater to
DiCaprio's own individual activism on behalf of, or in service of, the
preservation of the environment.
Leonardo DiCaprio during the filming of "The 11th Hour". Mr.
DiCaprio, an environmental activist, was one of the producers of the
documentary, which he also narrates. (Photo: Chuck Castleberry,
©2007 Eleventeen Productions, LLC via Warner
Independent Pictures)
Furthermore, "The 11th Hour" doesn't offer moments of self-deprecation, comic
relief or breathing room from the difficult-to-swallow statistics. Its
message is resoundingly clear, coherent and serious enough to be beyond
significant. The filmmakers reiterate, via a parade of concerned
world citizens, that the time for debating the existence of climate change is way
past the midnight hour, and no longer an issue to waste time on. "The 11th
Hour", as its title suggests, is a no-nonsense documentary, one as
uncompromising as any feature film about a particular subject can be. It
has a beginning (the earth's and humankind's dire condition), a middle (the why
and how we got to the point of dire straits) and an end (what are we going to do
about it?), and for all its power and immediacy, retains a formulaic tripartite
structure that would fit within a typical narrative feature.
What sets "The 11th Hour" apart from most films and documentaries however, is
its ending and its aftermath, which will be more unique than any other motion
picture experience an audience will have in 2007. The Conners' sisters
documentary is interactive in a compelling and empowering way. The
audience itself has the chance to be a hero and not only re-write the ending of
the film, but on a much larger scale re-write the future for human beings and the earth
itself. If there's one hope that "The 11th Hour" offers, it's that people
who watch the inescapable realities that the film describes will collectively
move to make the small everyday cumulative changes that can actually impact the
planet for good.
Simply stated, "The 11th Hour" is the best action film of the summer -- and its
action takes place during and most especially after the film is over, with all of its
best actors and directors off-screen and in movie theater seats. This
documentary, unlike some others that have been put on the landscape, is just too
pertinent to miss.
"The 11th Hour" is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America, for
some mild disturbing images and thematic elements. The film's duration is
one hour and 31 minutes. The film is mostly in English, except for some
momentary Russian language (from former USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev), with
subtitles for Mr. Gorbachev and Stephen Hawking, the scientist and physicist
from Cambridge University. Conners Petersen and Conners wrote the film,
with Conners Petersen among those producing it. The film opens in other
U.S. cities including San Francisco on August 24th. Here are the
playdates for the film.
Related:
"There Is No Debate": Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia
Conners talk to The Popcorn Reel about the state of the planet and
what to do about it.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2007. All Rights
Reserved.