Less than ten
years ago, the types of people who ran around talking about "Green
Energy", driving electric cars, recycling, and keeping a close eye on
their "Carbon Count" would be the exact people we would all take the
piss out of quite regularly.
The term "Annoying Hippy" comes to mind...
However,
in this day and age of celebrities with a cause, it seems all it takes
is a coloured rubber wristband and a clever buzz phrase such as "carbon
offsetting" - and you've got yourself one mainstream line of thinking!
An Inconvenient Truth
has set the agenda for the next few years - essentially commercialising
environmentalism to the masses. That film rode on the coat-tails of
Michael Moore and his "Think about you Country" style docu-tainment,
and The 11th Hour
is riding on the coat tails of all of them.
It's
just such a strange thing watching a film like this in a cinema, which
also pumps out multi-million dollar action blockbusters which use us
exorbitant amounts of power, heat and natural resources.
If it weren't for Hollywood heart throb, Leonardo DiCaprio (who also
serves as the films producer), helming the project - The 11th Hour
would simply be another so-so documentary that would be buried on The
Discovery Channel (or me forced upon Year 9 High School students to
watch in Science when their regular teacher is away).
There is
plenty of well researched scientific data on offer, as well as some
interesting practical and (rather simple) solutions to our
climate
crisis. But it becomes quite clear (and The 11th Hour
uses scare tactics and fear mongering not seen since the Fox News
Networks coverage of terrorism to promote this) is the governments.
It
seems every solution (from putting solar panels on sky-scrapers, or
fast tracking the production of electric cars) has been a viable option
for decades - but has been consistently ignored by governments fueled
by greed and money generated through oil. And it's a scary thought,
because as long as money is floating around, the governments will keep
accepting the cheques in favour of something for the greenies!
Ok,
we get it - the world is doomed. And yes, there are things we can all
do in our daily lives to fix it. And there in lies the problems.
The
sad fact is that the people that need to see this, that need to be
convinced of the changes to be made - are the exact people that won't
be attending the theatre. The exact same people that will quite happily
watching Rush Hour 3
in the packed out theatre next door. The exact same people who will
drive their diesel fueled Hummers home.
The same people who thought it was the right idea to elect Bush as
President for eight years.
The same people who hold your very way of life in their hands.
....and they don't even know - and probably never will.
2.5 out
of 5
The 11th
Hour Australian
release: 11th October,
2007
Cast:Leonardo DiCaprio Director: Nadia Conners & Leila Conners
Peterson
Website:Click
here.
