11th Hour - 5 vor 12

Inevitable comparisons will be made with Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and so we might as well go ahead with it.

The 11th Hour starts off with terrifying the audience, in contrast to Gore's more introspective calm before the storm. Gore also interjects humor and his own personality into a documentary about his own crusade, while DiCaprio's is more straightforward, inundating the audience with mind-numbing facts and portents of doom. He also doesn't focus attention to his own personality but stays merely a narrator.

The 11th Hour is more comprehensive, drawing from various sources, but lacks breathing room to digest each infoload periodically dumped on screen. It decides to interject these pockets of space for reflection far too late, already in the middle of the reel.

DiCaprio's narration is also a disappointment. He is great eye candy that serves to pull the crowd to the theater, a terrific actor and is capable of memorizing tomes of text in his movies, but in his own documentary, his eyes too obviously dart left to right at a teleprompter, which loses the impact and earnestness he needs to communicate and connect to the audience. Meanwhile, the less-physically appealing Gore successfully portrays himself in Rocky-like fashion, valiantly trudging on in his uphill battle, which makes the audience identify with and root for him.

To The 11th Hour's credit, it offers more solutions on an individual level than Gore's. Despite the fragmented expositions of its well-meaning interview subjects, it offers hope and a heroic sense of optimism that we can still do something about the issue.

Sheesh, what a mess.

If Americans are relying on documentaries like this to convince Joe the Redneck that anthropogenic climate change is real I understand why we all feel there is so much more work left to do. You see, the problem with the film is its complete lack of a narrative, one scientist/politician/activist after another, however respectable, snappily quipping about consumption, pollution, the oil economy, in no particular order does nothing to explain where we came from or where we are headed, or why. So the documentary teaches nothing new, it just juggles around the same themes, incoherently referencing the all correct verbiage to satisfy an green audience but neither inform nor empower it.

The visuals do not help, we can't go 5 seconds without seeing an iceberg disintegrate or tree being chopped down. After the first half hour it becomes like some sort weird sort of exercise in CIA-style mental conditioning. Does no good, indeed it destroys a viewer's concentration, rather than enriching or rewarding it. Also, it has to be said, some of visuals are entirely erroneous, for a the moment when told that human behaviour may cause the release of subterranean methane, why are we shown a clip of a sea vent? There are at least a dozen similar misleading visuals here, and as much as I'm into green politics, let's face it, with instances like there is a touch of propaganda to this documentary.

Conclusions? Save some energy, turn it off, read some George Monbiot instead.

Although it deals with many of the same issues as Al Gore's Oscar winning documentary from last year it lacks some of the style, presentation, and gravitas the former VP exudes so easily.

Still, for what you get it's a pretty good film, though the second half is far superior to the first.

The documentary, as narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, goes into detail of what's wrong with our world, what changes and challenges our generation must accept, and how close we are getting to the point of no return. The first half of the film deals with the destruction and disasters happening all over the globe and comes close, though it never steps over the line, of using the kind of scare tactics many, wrongly, accused Gore of. The second half of the movie deals with what we can do, technology that currently exists and new technology that's on the way. As the film gets more hopeful, peers into the future, and presents amazing opportunities and challenges, it becomes moving and quite powerful.

I'd give the first half of the film a 6, the last half a 10, and so I split the difference and gave it an 8 overall.

If you enjoyed this film and want more you should check out other recent documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed the Electric Car?, both from last year.

Go to RazorFine Review to read my full review for this film, and the others listed above.

This is a wonderful and important documentary. The film is full of terrifying images and fascinating interviews from some great minds. But, luckily, it does not spend too much time making its case about our destruction. After getting the viewer sufficiently terrified, the film shifts its focus to the causes of the problem. The film also inspires viewers to go out and make a difference (and tells them how).

Of course, comparisons will be made to An Inconvenient Truth, so I'll cover that too: it's clear that this project was always intended to be a film; it didn't begin as a PowerPoint presentation. It also doesn't waste time with a biography of it's narrator. But, most importantly, it's got a better mix of fear and inspiration; DiCaprio's film made me want to change the world.

With the world economy expanding as it is bringing pollution along with it, combined with the lack of socially responsible leadership specifically in the forms of education and regulation, The 11th Hour superbly outlines the current status of our Earth's health, the movement to revive it, and a basis for the education that is needed to make necessary changes for a healthier planet. Much file footage is shown throughout the film that is sometimes not specifically discussed but does provide good visuals for the narration and speakers, which is the basis of the entire film. Although the production is a bit ADD (ie a screen cut every 1/2 to 1 second at times), the distress call for the environment and future of our world is clear. A 10/10 is deserved for this film for social responsibility and standing up against non-leadership while providing feasible options to reduce global climate change from the ground up.