Jess Rogers
I am incredibly grateful that we live in a time that I can say there are a lot of terrific documentaries talking about our environmental crisis.
In many ways it would actually be a disservice to compare THE ELEVENTH HOUR with AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH or to another entry. They have different goals, and even if they do cover much of the same material, they do it in a different way, touching us differently. Given the number of extremely different student essays I have personally read about climate change, the biodiversity crisis, or human influence on the world, I am confident that there is plenty of room for more documentaries about nature and our collective future. FALL AND WINTER provides another unique view of how we have arrived at this turning point in our natural history.
The opening shots and words of FALL AND WINTER – featuring tribal chants and a mushroom cloud – can initially scare you and thrill you at the same time. But the words that appear on the screen ground us in familiar knowledge while beginning a new story. Hopi tribal leaders have been waiting nearly 40 years to deliver a message to the world about the spiritual knowledge of the Hopi and how it relates to the new use of the atomic weapons and building of industry and changes in society. This UN speech reappears throughout the film, giving a basis for our connection to the film.
As with many environmentally themed documentaries, the movie goes on to talk with experts about the changes that have come and why. However, unlike the higher profile HOUR and TRUTH, the variety of these experts range from Hopi Indians, tribal leaders, industry mavens, professors, historians, economists, and gives us more of the history of our problems with the environment. The interweaving of the UN speech and tribal lore on our history with modern experts in philosophy and science gives us the long view of our current environmental problems – from the Horizon Oil Spill to the Haitian earthquake and climate change negotiations.
While we meet these experts, the film spends a lot of time showing beautiful images over their voices. Unexpected images, in slow-motion or racing across the screen to add a visual effect to the words of our experts. Some of the people how have direct ties to the land – fisherman in Louisiana influenced by the oil spill – are real characters who add a strong personal element to this broad, almost overwhelming issue. One of the best things about the film is the direction it proposes – what can individuals do, what can society do, and what is already being done to fight some of these enormous issues and problems facing our world. Green architecture, new water technologies, teaching our children, and finding ways to alter our culture to save ourselves. “Awakening the heart” has no one way, but there are many paths to find a way to create a global community.
Some documentaries are sexy or funny, others document real life, and others want to educate with a story. FALL AND WINTER is the final type – it’s attempting to awaken your mind to things you haven’t thought of before that are already well within the world you know and understand. By putting our lives in perspective and talking about what we can do, and have already done, FALL AND WINTER deserves its place among environmental documentaries.
FALL AND WINTER is playing tomorrow Thursday May 2nd – 12:30pm, and again on Saturday May 4th – 5:30pm. Both screenings are at TIFF Bell Lightbox. (official website)