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The 11th Hour
Directed by: Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio
Genre:
Documentary
Run Time: 95
min.
Release Date:
August 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
THE 11TH HOUR is a
cautionary and doomsday documentary with a powerful line-up of
intelligent men and women speaking to the destruction we as humans are
doing to our planet Earth. Hosted by film star Leonardo DiCaprio (THE
DEPARTED) and with a stunning array of cross-cultural
people backing up claims surrounding the terrible price of the human
footprint on the globe (from Stephen Hawking to Michel Gorbachev and
David Suzuki), the stories of doom and gloom will most likely make your
hair stand on end.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this documentary, let me say
that I believe in human causes for global warming. And that we have
polluted — and continue to pollute — this pale blue dot that we call
home. Governmental apathy and greed have played a huge role within this
problem, but so has the greed of your average Joe with a 401k (ever look
at where your money is invested? Which stocks? Is Chevron or Mobil or
Shell in there?).
The 11th Hour lays out a great set of problems facing us as a planet,
not as individual nations. But what it failed horribly on is showing us
those that don’t believe what is being said by the ecological community.
Yes, they probably are backed by Big Oil. Yes, they probably aren’t
looking at the scientific data and only the emotions behind them. But I
still would’ve liked to have seen someone (anyone) with a dissenting
opinion so that the documentary had a better balance to it. I’ve
complained about this before, and I don’t think it is beneficial to
those with a genuine concern for the planet to simply eliminate
opposition. I say take them on! So what if they have more money than
you. So what if they can bend the ear of every Senator and Congressman
in Washington. Let’s see their faces and let us know who they are. Those DVD watchers with even half an intellect will be able to sort through
the details and understand what is being done and by whom. Don’t fear
the opposition. Use them to your advantage. Show how weak their
arguments are and put them into the debate.
That being said, the study of Earth’s problems (from globalization to
the destruction of species and habitat) is a hoary one. The advancing
issues aren’t going to go away as we use more fossil fuels, pump out
more babies (no population controls), and desire more “things” that we
feel will make us somehow better than the Joneses ...until nothing of
humanity remains.
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Image from The 11th Hour
DVD cost: $4.89
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
The DVD is available in
eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging with 100% recycled paper.
Movie Quote: "Not
only is it the 11th hour, it's 11:59 and 59 seconds."
Other Actors/Actresses
from The 11th Hour
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