Human

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 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.

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?

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.

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.??