User reviews

human....

I know that my writing ( I am from Brazil) here is awful, but still I have to speak about this unique film. Before seeing it was easy to judge someone , it was easy to define love, fear, terror.... I thought that feeling something very deep in a movie was almost impossible, always artificial ... After watching "humans", I understand the complexity of what is to be a human, the beauty of what is love , I was moved like never before seeing a father talking about his son... Something very deep inside me has changed after watching this movie, something that is now open, and that is my view on the others, judging someone, for me now, is as simple as understanding love...

Thank you for showing me what being a human is all about...

My favorite film of 2015. Spanning dozens and dozens of countries and languages, Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Human is a mission to explore our humanity. The three-year project interviewed some 2,000 people and got them to tell their own personal, emotional stories about things most significant in their lives—love, war, poverty, happiness—things to which we all can relate. It's a masterpiece. And the entire film has been released online for free.

The format is simple. Clean, candid close-up interview shots spaced with gorgeous slow-motion aerials backed by a powerful score. It's beautiful. And it had me eagerly awaiting each new story to be told. I've heard it all before in one form or another. But the format makes it easy for us to listen—really listen—to so many people from so many different backgrounds. These stories here can echo so deeply and with such a strong feeling that we are all connected—if you choose to allow them. With this, the film is unforgettable.

This is a film that matters. It has no plot. No drama, no storyline, no action. And no celebrities—save José Mujica, the humble former president of Uruguay. It's simply a grassroots collection of short stories and vignettes united upon a theme. But it's the antidote to so many films that divide us, that reinforce the us-vs.-them dichotomy that enables us to prejudge, to define ourselves against others, and to resort to violence so easily.

I want to travel the world and know even more about others now.

Learning, to me, goes beyond understanding the mechanics of our environment. It includes the development of habits, such as introspection, critical thinking, and empathy. The moment we came screaming into this world, our brains started making sense of things. What is love? What is trust? What are other people?

Some of these things we learn not just by words or imitation, but through systems in our brain that have evolved to respond to particular experiences: seeing faces, experiencing touch, hearing the heartbeat of our mothers.

But as in any other category, we may learn the wrong things. Abuse destroys trust. Negligence withholds love. Separation stifles empathy. And over time, we need to reinforce our knowledge of love, trust, and empathy – like any other thing we've learned.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand's "Human" is a tour de force in exercising our empathy. Filmed in 60 countries, it is the result of interviews with more than 2,000 people. It showcases not only the diversity of humanity, but also the beauty of our planet through stunning aerial photography.

This is an intense work. It requires setting aside time and mental energy to take in the stories, which are often heartbreaking. You will hear the stories of people living in abject poverty, people who have lost their entire families to war, women who have been raped, killers who have been forgiven, and humans of all ages who have endured shameful prejudice.

Tales of heroic endurance and the relentless pursuit of happiness, education, justice – those are the most uplifting moments in the film. A film like this might risk falling into a kind of moral relativism, a mere celebration of diversity. But "Human" returns to the call for justice throughout.

One Indian man tells the story of how the victims of water shortages are helping to construct a twin tower with 76 swimming pools to be enjoyed by the wealthy. He says he is furious because the connection between inequality and its effects is so apparent. A destitute old woman yells at the camera, calling us all to account for ignoring the suffering of the poor.

In another scene in between interviews, we see a vast array of skyscrapers lit at night. From afar, they look gorgeous, an incredible show of light and architecture. Then the camera zooms into one of the buildings, and we see office cubicles, lonely workers, a soulless, sterile environment.

"Human" does not give us an answer to injustice, inequality, poverty, waste, war. It reminds us powerfully that there is a question here: If we care about one another as human beings, what do we do now?

Very broad and deep viewing.

The slow panning scenes and atmospheric music deliver a sublime high definition experience complimented and counterbalanced by short intimate accounts of very personal stories mostly about the individuals themselves and their sometimes incredible lives and at times harrowing experiences. So much so I had to pause for a break from the emotional intensity of some of the toughest stories.

There are three volumes/films and I have only watched most of the way through the first so far. I wonder if the on-screen text is played/available in other languages because I saw them in English on Google Play and the multitude people telling their stories are truly drawn from all walks of life and corners of the world.

A marvelous way to expand your view of humanity.

This is an inspired review. After stumbling across a short clip and being lead to the entire production on YouTube, I feel I've been given a tremendous gift. What has been presented for us is a clear window into the souls of those we live with but never normally see.

The chosen angle of people being shown creates a personal feel that gave me a feeling that I was being spoken to. Topics were given eclectic voices, articulated in ways that will forever keep my eyes open wide to the vastness of human expression. Cleverly shot, contemplative scenery of both nature and humanity were spliced at intervals allowed for a well paced interchange and time to reflect.

The music wonderfully complements the atmosphere being created. It aids contemplation and harmonises the stories with the scenery.

The high-definition format adds to the feeling of immersion, seamlessly moving me from one story to the next. I was reminded by the work of Ron Fricke with the documentary 'Samsara' which uses a similar approach.

This, however, gives a poetic voice to humans' narration of life experience that adds another dimension to this piece.

'Human' felt like an education that I wish I had received in my formative years. But I am thankful for it now and I hope it will take you on a journey similar to the one I have taken, the journey of being 'Human'.

I never take time to do these things, but it needs to be said: This is an amazing piece of art.

The emphasis on the human element is just perfect. If anything, it is a cure to public ignorance. Hope many teachers show this to the children in their classes, if only to let them know how lucky they are actually having a TV and the time spare to watch it.

This world could use some more (long distance) compassion and this movie is part of solving that problem. Hopefully it will encourage and inspire other filmmakers to highlight human happiness, pain, suffering and all other emotions in more different ways to come. Just loved this whole movie and hope others will grow wise enough to see its beauty too.

So many different aspects of life in these stories so i recommend you watch it and take what you like and leave what you don't. I personally enjoyed the whole documentary but the English subtitles i had were not working as well as i would have liked. Some of the stories were very sad. The scenery in some of the photography was amazing and i am guessing that the use of Drones might be helping with this in a lot of modern footage. I guess we do not know how easy we have it in life until you listen to the other sides of this world that is currently in turmoil. How anyone could only give this a 1/10 is hard to comprehend.??

""I am poor. I will now define poverty. What is poverty to me? It's when I have to go to school but can not go. When I need to eat, but I can not. When I need to sleep, but I can not. When my wife and children suffer. I do not have the intellectual level needed to get out of this situation. neither I nor my family. I feel really poor in body and mind. And you rich, who are listening to me, what you have to say about their wealth?""

Presented in 3 Volumes of 1 hour and a half duration each, HUMAN speaks about LOVE in the purest sense of the word; talks about the machismo and homophobia still very present in the world of wars and conflicts, about revenge and forgiveness, about the humiliating poverty of many and indifferent wealth of the few. It also talks about how the current system is unfair and how the work for most people is exhausting, stressful and unhappy, making them spend his life in exchange for a money can buy everything but quality of life or True Love.

HUMAN makes it clear how the violence against others and contempt for the less fortunate, regardless for what reasons are, it's something completely useless and unnecessary. Because in every face and all eyes, be they rich or poor, black or white, victims or criminals, straight or gay, old or children, we see that all these people are human-beings, each with its peculiarities, cultures and different stories, yes, but human-beings above all.

This Documentary makes us look inside ourselves and make the following questions:

Why do I keep killing me to work for a lifetime in a job that makes me more harm than good, just to accumulate the maximum of goods I can, when I die I will not take anything with me? Why do we treat each other so badly? Why do we insist on seeing the other as a threat, an enemy, not a creature to be understood, heard and respected? Why do we insist we find ourselves higher or worse than others?

If all - or at least most - do these simple questions and begin to see in every known and unknown face a Being-Human, surely the world would not this place so full of poverty, inequality and conflict.

This film is a definite masterpiece that can surely bring some pretty deep feelings in everyone's mind. Even tough I am not fully competent of understanding each and every one of those feelings I did learn quite a valuable lesson: Individually we are different but there is only one whole we can make and that is humanity itself. The movie consists of stories, little life stories that through their simplicity altogether with the atmosphere created by the people themselves make a great place to understand what life really is and how life differs from one person to another. It really forms an opinion on every single aspect of life like: poverty, love, feelings and death. The overall quality of the movie is amazing, not only by how the general structure is build but also from an emotional perspective. Moreover, watching each and every one of those people telling their stories gives you an opportunity to catch a glimpse in their life. Combining that with the wonderful collection of music and sceneries you are persuaded to endorse the idea of life thriving everywhere and in every condition. The stories are said through an interview form, the focus being strictly on the teller. The black background and the silence that surrounds gives a very deep view in those people lives, but here is where Yann Arthus- Bertrand's genius comes on. He makes us see and understand those ideas right from the people' s mind and perspective. To sum up, I can definitely recommend this documentary to absolutely anyone who wants to take a moment and enjoy the vastness of life and world. One small detail I want to say is that I have seen the three part version which in my opinion is very suitable to many people because it give you time to understand each one very easily.

A heartfelt and deeply committed doc-pic, HUMAN is of course something more and beyond a picture, it's an act of faithful love towards mankind, towards the frailties and strength of humanity, highlighting the intolerable but still arising contradictions of a sometimes illogical human world.

The high-definition close-up shots of people's faces, courageously and honestly opening their soul to the viewer, creates a strong empathy and a sense of connection transcending all borders: we all feel the same, hurt the same, think the same. I found some interviews really touching, although never pathetic or overly affectionate, simply because real and human.

The short intimate accounts of personal lives are spaced with visually stunning slow-motion aerial shots of impressive natural and human landscapes, and the music also complements the high emotional value of the picture, which I would highly recommend to see.

An ambitious documentary that clocks in at over 3 hours and tries to unpack what it means to be human, where the species is at, and where it may go. It does this through interviews with various people from all over the world answering various questions in countless different languages, interspersed with visually beautiful but sometimes random images of landscapes and the people inhabiting them, usually people farming or otherwise working outdoors.

Some stories are more engaging than others, but most do serve a purpose, and some are quite emotional. It's the footage in between that feels a bit more confusing. It often doesn't link very well to what's being talked about, and while the visuals are beautiful, they end up not contributing a great deal, thematically. It's no Koyaanisqatsi, that's for sure, as in that documentary, sure, the images could be sometimes vague, but the amazing editing and score gave them purpose and meaning.

So I could still recommend this, maybe cautiously. Hearing interesting and emotional stories interspersed with beautiful visuals of endless landscapes and people framed like ants within them doesn't make for a fully cohesive 3 hours, though, and of course there's no concrete answers on what it means to be human, if anyone was even expecting that (the question of the meaning of life might be discussed, but it isn't solved, nor could it be).

It's a moderate success that's sometimes very emotional and has its fair share of amazing visuals, but feeling a bit formless and a tad repetitive, it ends up being less than the sum of its parts. Still... at least many of those parts are great.

Beautiful overhead scenes of different rural areas around the world, and touching stories from people. Really, it's nicely filmed and good to listen to experiences. Is it representative of humans? Absolutely not: it's done mostly as a political statement with a large representation of immigrants, a battered woman, military man in Iraq, poor Indian farmers etc. The questions they were asked are obviously to delve in to left wing issues, and focus on poverty, homosexuality,. inequality, climate change etc. So really on the whole it's pretty depressing. However, there is a level of sincerity about it, and some interesting stories. I enjoyed it, but it starts to get as wearing as a vegan protest in a grill bar. Maybe a bit more diversity (like happy people and not just characterising black and Asians as poor). I felt really it didn't really delve into the depth of culture in the way it should, without prejudgment. That lack of sophistication taints it, but it's still interesting.

I couldn't believe when see that numbers of rating and reviews are so less, and also suprised to not so much festival attended. But i can say very honestly, every human-being must watch to see "the other" and himself/ herself.

When I picked up this movie to watch on my airplane when returning from a business trip, I couldn't imagine that it would affect me so deeply, in such an intense way I could never expect. Right, I love travelogues such as "Le Peuple Migrateur" and "Himalaya", but this one absolutely blew up my biggest expectations.

"Human" makes us dive into a journey of empathy for other human beings; a journey where you are going to laugh; where you are going to cry; where you are going to identify yourself to some of the histories which may be even your own history; where, I hope, that you may see that even if we are so different, in the end we are so equal.

The version I saw had a big plus side - other from José Mujica, former Uruguayan president who is well known here in Latin America, there were no other "big shots" on screen - what you see and what you listen is the voice of people like you and me, who talk about love, about angry, about injustice, about despair, about the experience of being alive. This quality is kept on the extended version of the movie, which makes some statements longer and fuller in details.

The movie can be watched on its entirety on YouTube, where longer versions of the interviews can be seen and the first name of the interviewee and his country are shown. Don't miss them, they make a beautiful complement to the movie.

For closing up this commentary, more than never empathy is an article in dire need here in Brazil nowadays, and I hope that many people can see this movie and look to the people besides them and see them in a different light - I really do, after watching it. At almost 47, I never expected that a movie could still change the way I see people and see life in general, but this one accomplished the feat. Thanks for everybody who made this experience possible, I will be forever grateful to you.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand made the choice to give up completely to let the words of these men and women, freely frolic, opening their testimonies to the universal. To those who will oppose the length, the slowness of this film, I would advise them to slip into the meditative contemplation of these images, so little season in 2015, to my chagrin ...

There are these battered women who have risen up after the torture, this prisoner who is waiting on death row and questioning the meaning of life, these former soldiers devastated by the violence lived, those survivors of the bombings or Of the death camps in Cambodia, those homosexuals who lived only in rejection, this former soldier who says his desire to kill again, those fixed glances which sometimes say madness or obsession. Everywhere, pain, suffering, death, the labor of an absolutely dramatic life, poverty that can not be imagined, the soil that a father joins, defeated, unable to feed his children.

There are also these smiles, those shining skins, those deep eyes-black, blue, gold-those wonderful and vivid colors (the black skin of that African beauty under her pink veil) Happiness of the family, love, the beauty of the world that knows how to show oneself to those who really know how to look: Yann Arthus-Bertrand has managed the feat of showing us how similar we are all in the same boat- Earth...

Two moments have reversed me: when a father in tears says that only the Love of the Other can save the world (Buddhism does not say anything else) and, towards the end, this black woman , Who confesses to living in poverty and offers to those who watch her to exchange their lives with hers, just to see ..

A magnificent documentary, served by landscapes on the border of the real as they are magical (waves, deserts, Mongolian plains ... and this image of ending like tree of blood in the snow, or blood vessels caught in the Ice, breathtaking), which delivers existential, metaphysical and universal truths that will open up all those who will take the time to let themselves be embarked, to let their human sensibility take the helm.

Thank you, Mr. Arthus-Bertrand, thank you for giving us this gift, even if it is not received without tears ...

This documentation shows human life around the world. How do people live and celebrate life itself in traditional or religious rituals? These scenes are taken in a breathtaking camera work in some scenes, in other scenes it's presented pretty simple how people around the world are. It is a movie, one can slowdown and feelgood. A good visual work and a clear recomendation.

This documentary captures what it really means to be human and it's perfect how we are one deep down experiencing this physical life to raise our consciousness and realize that we are one through many challenges and trials and if we lived from that perspective , the whole world will change!

It is full of human emotions, human values, compassion and stunning visuals. One can meet many persons from different corners of this planet who have a common ideology called humanity. It is very informative and one can experience almost all major human problems, can hear from the words of persons who may be victims or creators. The aerial and ground views of different parts of the planet like erupting lava, desert sand dunes, garbage area, etc. are at the peaks of its awesomeness.

Well, I have to acknowledge it moved me. But as people in the movie are mostly those who came from the developing world, I felt a self-righteous perspective from someone who is standing higher. Maybe it can show us some more embarrassing and shameful facts of the developed countries, such as immigration issues, drugs, etc. Thus this movie can really make sense with its ambitious title.

A whopping 190 minutes of intense interviews and hypnotic aerial scenes. Do not go if you are tired. But excellent: makes you wonder what it means to be human.

The film consists two main parts intercepting each other. One part is aerial videos of HD vivid colored, slow motioned, hypnotic yet mesmerizing nature scenes, packed human or city landscapes. Almost like a moving national geographic picture, it is dynamic and full of wonder as the camera closes in or zooms out or pan around to show you more story. Some of the impressive scenes include surfing in the sky with schools of birds which watching them changing leaders and maintaining their formation, or Arabian/Egyptians treading in the vast dessert with camels. Some packed human scenes included a crammed pool of Chinese swimmers, or some Africans with bags trekking behind a bulldozer like zombies on a landfill, looking for leftover treasures in a sea of garbage, or a group of Mongolian teenagers galloping on the grassland. These awesome scenes are accompanied by calm cello or tribal like folk songs, making you slow down and ponder what kind of life we are living on this planet.

These wide shots are interlaced with closed ups of people around the world, talking candidly about their experiences, their fear, love, shame, anger, plead, happiness and gratefulness. Some cited examples and talk about injustice and their beliefs. I wonder how the producers got the people open up to their inner selves and talk about their deepest secrets: many of them burst into tears or choke up when they talk about something/someone dear to them. These people (more than 2000 of them) come from a wide range of background/race (60 countries), speaking all kinds of languages on a great variety of topics yet all of them are related to what it means to be a human being. Some were in prison, others in poverty, a number are gay or lesbian, some experienced war/genocide and witnessed/experienced terrible things done to them or their families. But there are also people who are thankful and pleased despite all the adversity or their mundane life. While some question the materialistic civilization and how we treat nature, all are honest and inspiring though a little intense.

Therefore, it is great how the aerial videos space these interviews out and sort of take us away from the harsh reality and look at our life on this planet from a different perspective. Because when you step back and look at the bigger picture, perhaps everything makes sense and all of us have a mission to contribute to the history of humankind.

I did not know the movie is available on YouTube – in three sections. The HD aerial shots are probably best watched on the big screen, although in the YouTube version, you can turn on the closed caption and see in which country the scenes are filmed and where the interviewees are from. But then, you may think where they come from affect their views and lose the essence or common thread of "humanness". Nonetheless, highly recommended.

At last i found someone alike. i salute the filmmaker for taking this kind of theme to make a film. i don't know what to say. Oh my creator please give me the way to be a part of humanity......

It's a tremendous exercise I would like to follow. In addition to the documentary feature of rare works deserving the documentary name, the artistic level is at the top. Human happiness, justice, poverty, richness all question the real people and the true words you believe with sincerity. Why are you so happy with what I am happy with, how lucky I am and how unlucky I am constantly asking questions while you are watching and listening to those stories that you are really touched and often get angry. In the documentary, with the help of people from many different regions, sildenames and hundreds of people from poverty, happiness, spousal sexuality, unemployment, war, peace, hunger, thirst, Everyone is telling their own story in their own way, but I think that most of the messages that are meant to be given are the same and for those who can receive those messages as well. In the end, everyone asks a single question, "What is the meaning of my life?"

The simplicity of the interviews and the dressing, the originality of the talk, the people, the narrators make you find yourself close to you, and the interviews have nothing to eat in the pictures. Anyone who I believe can understand this work is planning to watch because it is worth it.