Information about the films

THE AGE OF STUPID (lok. C 0.76)

Franny Armstrong is a film maker who believes in social change. She believes it comes as much from people as from governments. Her last documentary, McLibel (2005), saluted two intrepid environmentalists who successfully took on the might of fast-food giant McDonalds.

Her latest call to arms is called The Age of Stupid. Beginning in 2055, when London is under water, Vegas under sand, Sydney on fire and the Taj Mahal in ruins, it features Pete Postlethwaite as The Archivist, a sad-eyed man, the last one left on earth, who lives in a tower off Norway using touch-screen technology to find out why it was that people in 2009 did nothing to stop the eco-catastrophe that was staring them in the face.

There are six main stories. Among them that of an octogenarian French mountain guide who has witnessed the swift erosion of the glacier he loves; an Indian entrepreneur bent on setting up a low-budget airline; a British wind-energy developer who tries to persuade other people in his village to support the construction of local turbines.

Armstrong is an astute journalist, travelling the world to track down both people and communities that can illuminate her central question: how can consumerism and all the social and psychological destabilisation that it produces be controlled?

The impact of this more-is-better philosophy isn't in any doubt. The US Energy Secretary is shown stating that the fact of climate change is no longer up for debate. Armstrong alights on extraordinary details (the construction of ski slopes in Dubai) and produces horrific statistics (a power station is built in China every four days to feed the energy demands of the West).

The Age of Stupid is more passionate, more emotionally charged than the Al Gore-fronted An Inconvenient Truth (2006). It makes energetic use of animation in the style of 1970s public information films. Its use of science fiction is also both effective and emotional: it's as if Armstrong hopes that the future can come to the aid of the present. Bold, supremely provocative, and hugely important, her film is a cry from the heart as much as a roar for necessary change.

THE EARTH (lok. C 0.61)

There’s a sense in which it seems fairly nonsensical to review Earth, the pseudo-docu-whatever released by Disney via BBC and The Discovery Channel, but in the end it delivers so well that some manner of kudos are in order… even if a review isn’t.

Earth is rather reminiscent of a different kind of Disney.  There’s a certain story to the thing, but mainly it’s just a loosely-worked frame that is our excuse to look at some incredible imagery… and cute, baby animals.  And, that’s okay.  And, there are lessons to be learned, whether they are the ones we are meant to learn or not.  For instance, if an elephant was smart enough to just step on a lion’s head when he could see the damn thing, a lot less elephants would get eaten by lions.

It’s a moving and beautiful film, and what’s best about it is that whether it’s an unbelievable waterfall, a duckling (let’s face it) falling out of a tree, or a wolf taking down a baby caribou – it’s all meant to be moving… and beautiful.  The overarching story of the polar bears ended up rubbing me the wrong way a little bit though.  The footage of animals being hunted down worked great for me, and even though you want to help out that damn elephant, it’s a wonderful part of the whole.  But, when a polar bear gets lost, and then lands starving on some ice unable to take on a herd of walruses , even if you’re trying to amp up your statement on global warming, I feel like maybe a cameraman could help a brother out.