I Am Greta

As much as it may seem like Greta Thunberg could be a puppet that's been planted to further a cause, that couldn't be further from the truth. Greta started her climate protest completely alone, sitting outside the Swedish parliament with her little placard, just over 2yrs ago, and in many ways, she's still alone. All of the media frenzy and being put on a pedestal were never something that she wanted, but her drive has remained the same right from day one.

The film begins with her sitting on a small sailing boat careering across the width of the Atlantic Ocean in treacherous seas to avoid the need for flying. Even at 16, she is prepared to do what she has to, to avoid the venom of her detractors, and there have been many detractors, up to and including several known Presidents.

Whats really cringeworthy in the film is how so many politicians want to take a selfie with her, clearly to make it look like they're doing something proactive, but Gretas (quite obvious) refusal to smile in these self centred attempts at righteousness makes the photos speak for themselves.

Its a bizarre world where grown men and women will attack a child, even including making fun of her Aspergers, when they feel the silver lined status quo they have been enjoying might be getting threatened. But Greta has never said anything that isn't based on science, but then most people don't read science, they read football scores, watch celebrities on TV, and snack on their McDonald's. How dare a little girl suggest that all is not well on Planet Earth? I mean that's just not right, is it? But hey the Pope says he's behind her, and the "entire Catholic world" too, so maybe those death threats she gets arent too much to worry about. Not yet anyway.

This is not a particularly happy film, the scenes later on in the movie where she's on that small yacht (crossing the Atlantic) crying and wondering what's she's doing, is magnified by the ghostly wail of the wind in the rigging and no land in sight. But here we are, looking at a child bringing more attention to the climate cause than any adult probably ever has. It's enough to make most of us feel inadequate.

The conclusion shows what happened in September 2019, just one year after Gretas one girl protest in Sweden, where over 7million people across the world marched to make their voices heard about the lack of action on climate issues. And this will undoubtedly go on, despite the (diminishing number of) detractors that are out there. I guess you just can't ignore what's happening any longer.

An interest documentary if you want a little insight into how things started.

For many it was former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's slide-show presentation of a documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006), Greta Thunberg cites a video she saw at school on polar bears endangered by the loss of sea ice from climate change, and for others it's been Thunberg's activism spotlighted in social media and for still others it very well could be "I Am Greta" that awakens them to the perils of global warming. Motion pictures are powerful that way. Such reflexive musings occasionally made by Thunberg--she also compares her travels and rise to fame to as if she were living in a movie-- aside, I didn't have high expectations for this documentary, as I'm not usually very interested in such cinematic lectures or celebrity profiles. That "I Am Greta" hasn't received stellar reviews, albeit more positive than not, from the sort of entertainment critics that tend to be predisposed to such material wasn't heartening, either. But, I like the observational approach of the camera here mixed with Thunberg's narration, and director Nathan Grossman got quite the scoop capturing the teenager's initially-solo school strike outside the Swedish parliament and building it up into a saga of the schoolgirl crisscrossing Europe, meeting world leaders and inspiring other children around the world, before ending with a climactic sea voyage across the Atlantic to admonish more politicians to their faces at the United Nations in New York.

Thunberg says her activism isn't about her but rather about the issue of anthropogenic climate change, but Grossman is right to keep the focus on the star here, and she's adroit at exploiting--her, not her parents or whomever else, as is made clear in the documentary--her position as a Swedish child, including one with Asperger's, to do what no adult could really get away with--making being curt and passionate in her lecturing come across as inspirational and appealing to the paternal instincts of the supposed adults in the room. I mean, besides the ones who are despots or childish nincompoops, or both--your Bolsonaros, Putins, Trumps and Piers Morgans of the world. It's impressive how she's built a following and movement and has leveraged it to put pressure on leaders and figures who care about governing--the likes of Macron, Merkel, the Pope, even former governator Arnold Schwarzenegger. One of the common laments of "I Am Greta" seems to be that it won't convert anyone from the other side. Yet, in an age when science is denied for political reasons and others are demonized even when they're a teenager, that was never really a possibility. Thunberg has the right idea focusing on her peers who haven't yet grown into a feedback loop of confirmation bias, conspiracy theories and misinformation. The science here is established, so her role is to push her movement to galvanize the adults capable of accepting responsibility and scoff at the rest of them.

The best exchange in the whole movie, though, is the first one. An old woman approaches Thunberg to reprimand her for not being in school, to which Thunberg retorts that there's no need for an education without a future. Two years later, at 17, she's already been more altruistic and influential in her career as a climate-change activist than whomever that old woman was or most of us ever will be. Even those who don't understand the greenhouse effect or comprehend the dangers of humanity's destruction of nature even while a resulting pandemic rages should be able to see the irony there.

Post-Covid cinema return with Gertie.

Slickly assembled, politely intrusive and sometimes affecting; I Am Greta fleshes out the eco-warrior and her supportive family. Greta herself quips "a very surreal movie because the plot would be so unlikely."

Scenes between Greta and her omnipresent father are the most touching, particularly instances when he pleads her to make time in her gruelling schedule to eat (a banana). And of particular interest was Greta's uncomfortableness with the prospect of heightened media interest.

It all concludes with the epic, horrendous sailing to New York. "I don't want to have to do all this," she tearfully confides as waves crash against the hull. "It's too much for me." Greta is visible in her truest and most relatable form: a frightened young girl at the mercy of a natural world she hopes to protect, who simply wants to be at home with her dogs.

It's disturbing that so much vitriol and hate can be targeted at a young woman whose only wish is for the governments of the world to recognise the overwhelming evidence that supports climate change and for them to do something about it before it's too late (assuming it's not too late already). Conversely, it's refreshing and inspiring to know that a young woman has been able to mobilise such a strong and powerful force to fight against the intransigence and/or misinformation pedalled primarily by biased middle aged and older men; although this is primarily a documentary about a person and not a movement. That person is trying to change the world for the better and, with the help, support and vision of the youth of today (and a few others), let's wish her success in her crusade against greed, corruption and ignorance while joining her in the fight for our survival!

My favourite part of this film is that it reserved judgment one way or another about the subject that they were covering so intimately, which must have been quite a tight-rope to walk, but they succeeding in this perfectly.

I don't usually comment on others' reviews, but I have to add that I suspect the vast majority of people giving this a 1/10 (a 1? Those aren't serious votes or Leni Riefenstahl's films would all get 1/10 if the only merit measured is the popularity of the subject matter, come on now) I would bet my left arm never watched this film at all, at most they have read synopses of parts some alt-right website found a hair to split with on Facebook or 8chan or wherever, and are basing their votes purely based on what their particular political cult tells them is bad or good.

So don't heed the low rating this gets on IMDb, this really is an emotionally engaging and insight film no matter whether you are someone who even doesn't believe man-made climate change is real. I watched this with one guy, an Engineer, who thinks climate change is actually due to environmental encroachment. the other one a QAnon-believing III%er, and we talked about the film for a good two hours afterward, which I think is a sign of a successful film in my books.