Review of The 11th Hour (2007) by Dan S — 03 Feb 2008

Lets start with a positive. This is the most serious issue of our century and so the more mainstream media addresses it the happier I am. However, I found this movie to be simplistic, careless with its analysis, disjointed, and ultimately too distanced from its audience.

At the very beginning it suggests that the problem is one of modernity. That simply is not true. Human civilization has always been at odds with natural systems, this is not a product of the industrial revolution.

What has changed is the scale and scope of our impact. My second problem is that the movie is too simplistic. There are too many doctrinaire abstractions - "we need good governance", "sustainable development is the answer", we need to "rediscover love" and not enough concentration on what needs to be done in the real world.

I think this movie works in awareness raising but we need to move beyond that to empowering and mobilizing the audience. The audience should leave the theatre knowing what they can do as voters and consumers to change the world.

I dont think this movies helps them. I would love to have seen Leonardo DiCaprio substitution an SUV for a Prius and explaining why.