The 11th Hour - Review
Review by Veronica Blake
WHEN Nadia Conners was just 10-years-old, she and her younger sister petitioned the city of Los Angeles to plant a tree in a cement square near their home in West Los Angeles. Without realising it they had become environmentalists before they had ever heard of the term.
“We are very close and since we were kids we have always talked about global events and politics. We come from a family of curious and opinionated people – there have been a lot of lively political discussions in our home,” says Nadia.
Little did the two young eco-warriors think they would one day collaborate on one of the most significant films to date on the subject of global warming and climate change.
The 11th Hour addresses mankind’s insensitivity to the environment – a subject Leonardo DiCaprio, who co-produced and narrates the film, feels passionately about.
“None of us were afraid of fighting for our ideas in the film. There were long hours of conversation about every aspect of this subject matter and how it would be portrayed,” says Nadia.
The 11th Hour describes the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how humanity has arrived at this moment – how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course.
The film features dialogues with experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R James Woolsey and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau, in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who present the facts and discuss the most important issues that face our planet.
Studies have shown that modern culture – with its emphasis on acquisition of material things – has actually made us less happy than we were in times of far less abundance.
Now, corporations are slipping their consumption-heavy messages into every aspect of life, even textbooks in public schools. The result is a childhood obesity crisis, skyrocketing consumer debt, and the privatization of nearly every aspect of public life.
Global Warming and Climate Change are the biggest environmental threats humanity will face in the 21st Century. Caused by an overabundance of the heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide, in the earth’s atmosphere, global warming has caused changes in climate worldwide, as well as disruptions and dislocations in habitats and wildlife.
The film’s narration is supplemented by a rapidly edited flood of devastating images that show not just meteorological phenomena such as tidal waves and Hurricane Katrina, but also shots of more basic signifiers of human greed – deforestation, a bloody slaughterhouse, fishermen draining the ocean of its wildlife and rush-hour traffic in downtown Los Angeles.
At times it’s almost too much to take in, you’re almost on the edge of your seat as you listen to what the environmental experts have to say while in the background we hear the sound of devastation, tornadoes, mud slides, flooding, sadly an all too familiar part of our daily weather reports.
Just an hour after the screening, I witnessed the horrifying scene on the news as Tornados and thunderstorms ravaged the US South, killing 45 people and injuring more than 150 as it caused a trail of destruction.
The storms tore across Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama, overturning trucks, trapping people, ripping up houses, smashing cars and uprooting trees, like a scene from the 11th hour being replayed.
The film’s thesis, that mankind’s insensitivity to the environment, consumption of limited resources and over-reliance on fossil fuels will soon make the planet uninhabitable for future generations, should by now come as nothing new to viewers.
George Bush will go down in history as America’s worst environmental president. In a ferocious three-year attack, the Bush administration has initiated more than 200 major rollbacks of America’s environmental laws, weakening the protection of America’s air, water, public lands and wildlife.
Everyone who contributed to the film agrees that Bush and his administration have had a catastrophic effect on the planet. In 2005, the Bush administration took 150 actions to undermine environmental protections, consistent with its historic assault on America’s environmental safeguards.
After collaborating on two short films (Global Warning, Water Planet), the Conners sisters [directors, Nadia and Leila] and DiCaprio set out to explore the larger story of the human experience on the planet.
Seeking out credible voices to speak to the history of the human species, the state of the oceans, land and air, and social, design and political challenges for change, the trio ultimately netted 150 hours of interviews with over 70 scientists, designers, historians and thinkers.
“We ourselves wanted to understand why humans were on a crash course with nature, and what we had to do to change course,” says co-writer/co-director and co-producer Leila Conners.
“One of the great things about doing this project was being able to meet people that inspired me or opened my mind through their work and writings.”
“We reached out to independent experts on the front lines of what could be the greatest challenge of our time – the collapse of our planet’s ecosystems and our search for solutions to create a sustainable future,” says DiCaprio, who believes we can all play a part. It starts in your own locality, by recycling and getting involved.
“There were long hours of conversation about every aspect of this subject matter and how it would be portrayed,” he added.
“The most basic thing to do is to learn everything about where you live. Where does the water come from that you drink? Where does your food come from? What is the state of the air that you breathe?
“Once you find out, you will find out that these things are in trouble and need help. And once you clean up the place that you live, then you have done your part. [If you live in a big city, ask for measures to decrease pollution, for example.]
“The next step would to be to learn everything you can about the things that you buy. Does the car you drive pollute the atmosphere and guzzle oil? Does the furniture that you purchase come from rainforest wood? Does the food you buy have chemicals in it? Are the clothes that you wear made in a sweatshop? Once you find those things out, you choose to buy things that are sustainable, organically, efficiently and humanely.
“These two actions would really go a long way to protecting the environment,” says Leonardo.
All is not gloom and doom however. With human ingenuity and optimism, there exists the potential to develop alternate systems that sustain, rather than degrade, the earth.
“All of these forces sweeping over the planet are the forces created by human beings,” comments National Geographic Society explorer Wade Davis. “And if human beings are the source of the problem, we can be the foundation for the solution.”
“We, as citizens, leaders, consumers and voters, have the opportunity to help integrate ecology into governmental policy and every day living standards,” concludes Leonardo DiCaprio.
“During this critical period of human history, healing the damage of industrial civilization is the task of our generation. Our response depends on the conscious evolution of our species and this response could very well save this unique blue planet for future generations.”
Scientist David Suzuki summed it up as the credits rolled, when he said that love is ultimately what will save our beautiful planet from disaster and understanding that all life is related….
“I see a world in the future in which we understand that all life is related to us and we treat that life with great humility and respect. I see us as well as social creatures, and when I began to look back and say, ‘what is the fundamental bottom line for us as social creatures?’… I couldn’t believe it because it seemed so hippy dippy, but it was love. Love is the force that makes us fully human.”
Certificate: tbc
Running time: 95mins
UK Release Date: March 21, 2008