Home

Well, I am not a native speaker, so please bear with me! I have seen this movie twice now and I really wanted to like it. I love the Planet Earth-Series and other nature/environment-related movies, but this one is a little...special. First of all, the visuals (e.g. photography) are stunning and very beautiful. Sadly, this is the only real good thing about this movie. What I consider bad about this movie? Well, there are several things:

The whole movie has a kind of instructive touch (as in preaching from above to dumb people) and it seems as if the filmmakers thought of their audience as stupid and therefore repeat everything over and over again - maybe they have to, but it still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. | The narration: Firstly, the (female) narrator is not bad, but in no way can she compare to David Attenborough of the Planet Earth-Series. The narration makes this movie seem a little alarmist, but not in a way that shocks you and makes you want to change things, but in a way that makes you think 'Yes, yes, I know! You said that already!'. Then, there is the vocabulary used. This is one of the things that disturbed me from the start (especially me as a German). Talking about herding cattle as keeping livestock "in concentration camp-like conditions" is not only outrageously insensitive, but also outright stupid. While saying things like this may be effective in creating attention, there are definitely better ways to do so. And why is half of what the narrator is saying numbers and statistics without any reference or comparison? Nobody will remember any of the numbers anyways, so please, at least give us the numbers with a context! | I personally don't like what I call the "spiritualistic approach" of this movie. By this I mean, that it is repeated over and over how everything in this world is connected and how humans are kind of a tumor on this earth that ruins it. While this may be true to some degree it still leaves a weird taste and makes this movie seem like creationist propaganda (which I am sure it is not, I'm just saying that this is not a very smart thing to do). | The movie basically only complains about the destruction of the earth by humans but offers no real solutions. The solutions it offers are ones that are already being used (e.g. using solar power) or are weirdly esoteric ones (e.g. everybody live in peace, the rest will work itself out). - This movie is very over-simplistic and one-sided. While none of the things being said are really wrong, most of them aren't really correct either. By using (debatable) arguments like this, the movie gets a bit of a manipulative touch. | While sponsoring this movie might be a good idea for the companies involved, this leaves one question: Why was every company allowed to put their name on this movie? Most of the companies produce in so-called third-world countries under worst circumstances for the workers and sell the products as luxury articles in industrialized countries and therefore actively take part in some of the activities that this movie wants to tell you about - so why the heck did the filmmakers take their money? | All in all, as a movie, this film isn't very entertaining. There is not really anything more than the visuals to keep you watching it, the narration is basically mostly throwing statistics at you and there is simply nothing new to it. | Another big problem with this movie is, that it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It isn't a documentary, but it isn't a normal picture either. It starts with stating that certain things are bad about the way humans treat the earth, but keeps adding stuff until you just don't care anymore. For example, the narrator says, that eating meat is bad for the environment. Then it adds, that coal mining is bad, goes on to say something else is bad and so on. Starting from 'Oh, yes, that's interesting, I didn't know that!' you will go to 'Okay, so everything is bad?' This IMHO also weakens the message of the movie a lot, the filmmakers should have just focused on fewer issues to tackle instead of being against environmental destruction, industrialism, globalization and the military. Don't get me wrong, it is very right to be against all of those things, but being against all of them at once is just hard to communicate in only one movie.

Also, please keep in mind that this movie is NOT a documentary in the usual sense of the word. There is nothing that is being documented, there is nothing new and there is nothing innovative in any way about this movie. While this is not necessarily bad, it changes the focus of the film from being a very boring documentary (which, as I have already said, it is not) to what it really is, a beautiful, but still only mildly entertaining movie.

So, in short: If you haven't seen the Planet Earth-Series, go see it now! If you have already seen it and watched all the other recent documentaries about environmental issues and want to see this one, go on and see it, but don't expect it to be more than average. Keep in mind what I have written above about this movie not being a documentary and you should be happy with it. About my rating: Considering 10 is the best and 1 is the worst possible rating on IMDb, I gave this movie 6 stars. 5 stars is average, I added two stars for the awesome visuals, none for the narration (above average voice-work, but without any real substance) and subtracted one point for things that really made me angry (for stuff like the concentration camp-reference and similar things).

Yann-Arthur Bertrand is known in France for being the best Earth photograph involved in ecology ever.

This movie is just beau-ti-ful.

You never saw the world that way.

You never knew there were so much diversity all around the Earth, so much things to see, so much beautiful creations.

And you never knew there were so much left.

A must-watch.

Wonderful scenes, really beautiful pictures of Earth.

Tip : there is a long-version.

One of the most brilliant documentaries on one of the most important topics in todays world. The impact the movie has with its simplicity of delivering such a strong message is absolutely brilliant. The way they have shown the different sides of the coin and the vast dispartiy among the various parts of the world was an eye opener. The images presented were something never seen before and thee facts presented along with these were very interesting.

Lets hope they succeed in their goal of educating people about the alarming rate at which we are heading towards disaster. I sincerely hope that everyone sees this documentary and makes the little required effort from their side to dow what they can. I switched off my airconditioning after watching about 20 mins of the movie and didn't turn it on for the remainder of the movie. :D

Home is a documentary about Earth, humanity, nature, where we're going and what we've been. Shot in 54 countries with aerial footage it's a combination of all the navel-gazing movies we've seen lately like Planet Earth and Baraka. Like a guilty abusive adult, we're now taking a closer look at ourselves, what we've done to the planet and what we've to ourselves.

That's in large part what the first 3/4 of the movie is about. Showing different locations on Earth, the stunning gliding shots of our planet's more beautiful locations as well as the terrible damage we've caused. In that way it's much different than Baraka and Planet Earth, the two films I compared this to. This movie talks about humans, not just their achievements but the economic chaos we've wrought on each other.

The vast differences in class structure in the west from the east. The vast amounts of wealth owned by 2% of the population. Starvation, disease, war, are all covered in this documentary. It's not just about the nature but the capitalist system which has destroyed the planet and brought humanity to its knees.

Many of these changes have occurred in the past 50-100 years. Vast change which is increasing to the point where urbanization is epidemic all over the planet. The melting icecaps are also covered in very nice detail. The consequences are of course very grim. Some of this information I knew but it's good to be reminded how we live in the western world which is rapidly destroying the planet and taking all the innocent passengers along with us.

The movie was released on the internet, television and internet on the same day. It's on YouTube in its entirety, but I downloaded a high quality version from One Big Torrent which was very nice to watch.

Probably one of the best movies of 2009 and one of the best documentaries of the year as well. I highly recommend it.

Perhaps it may seem that I overstate my appreciation for this movie. But, when you see the extraordinary compilation of beauty, work and effort that went into creating this work of ART, you may agree.

It focuses on the breathtaking gorgeousness of this singular planet we call Home.

Some may find this topic boring, repetitive, do-goody, tiresome... but trust me, this movie is BEYOND interesting and entertaining.

Some of the scenes are absolutely SURREAL in their beauty. There is one scene of people in a dump... how can such a scene hold so much impact and yet be so artfully gorgeous? I can't get that misty picture out of my mind, and it has compelled me to hope and work towards solutions. In a good way. Uplifted.

Question: How can a company (the one that sponsored the viewing of this movie) (Europa?) that thrives on promoting luxury and excess, care so much for the natural and inherent things of earth? It is true that such a company would cherish beauty and art... and the Earth is the most beauteous of all... perhaps when you've contributed to the downside, you grow and want to uplift, see things change for the good.

Whatever... this is one of the most beautiful documentaries ever made and EVERYONE should make the effort to SEE.

An extraordinary, unforgettable visual treat. For all time.

AFTER you see this movie, you MUST see FOOD INC. You MUST!