How does one review a documentary? If documentaries were judged solely on importance, the new environmental warning documentary from Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond), The 11th Hour, would receive a perfect score.
But a more appropriate way to review documentaries is to look at how effective the film would be at achieving its goal. And by that yardstick, The 11th Hour still measures up very well, albeit probably below other recent public warning documentaries such as An Inconvenient Truth and Sicko.
Documentaries that seek to force people into action must accomplish many various things all at once. First, they must be entertaining in order to cross over to mass audiences (Ã la Fahrenheit 9/11), but can’t be so into the mainstream that they come off as frivolous. Secondly, they have to be emotionally engaging without being emotionally manipulative (a lesson Michael Moore still hasn’t completely taken to heart).
Next, they have to be completely factually accurate, in order to keep the film from being dismissed as lacking credibility. And lastly, the documentary must appear non-partisan in order to reach a wide audience – otherwise, it’s just preaching to the choir.
Perhaps that perfect documentary is still in the works, but for now, The 11th Hour is pretty solid. The film sets the scene with a general overview of the atrocious condition of the planet, then leads into what might have caused this state of affairs and finally concludes with potential solutions on how to fix the environment’s dire problems.
But where The 11th Hour really picks up is in its examination of American culture. The film very impressively illustrates how America’s consumerist society is dooming the human race to eventual extinction if nothing is ever changed. In a society where waste-creating goods are prioritized, and where big companies hold a lot of the political power (another point the film emphasizes), taking care of the environment isn’t good for business (particularly the oil business, the film implies).
But, as The 11th Hour essentially says, the world will live on; humans just might not be around.
DiCaprio is the narrator, co-writer and producer of The 11th Hour, and given that the writing and directing credits belong to newcomers Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen, one would suspect DiCaprio’s clout was critical in getting this film a theatrical distribution. However, because DiCaprio’s star power is a bit distracting, he is only used sparingly – a wise move to keep the documentary from seeming too celebrity-obsessed.
However, there are some things that could be improved in the documentary’s presentation. The early segment on the current state of the planet feels a bit general after Al Gore’s extremely detailed Inconvenient Truth. Some of the early montages and visuals feel a bit cheap (such as an early montage splicing images of fetuses with tornadoes, and a shot of a man killing what appears to be a baby seal). And while the visual graphics are nice, the film otherwise relies too much on commentary footage, which makes the format feel a bit limited.
Worst of all, the new technologies the film suggests are around (and not implemented because they might lead to lower profits for some big companies) are given very brief screen time. It would have been fascinating to see how some of the new eco-friendly designs, such as a nightclub powered by the force of people dancing on the floor, worked. The film’s logic that the human race can build a new economy on renewable energy – one that could grow while being better for the planet – makes sense, but it would have been more powerful if explained further.
All the artistic and technique critiques aside, this movie is still engaging and moving, especially more so as it progresses. Wonderfully, The 11th Hour is not in-your-face or over-the-top, partisan or preachy; it’s just a calm explanation by a lot of knowledgeable people about how mankind has wrecked the planet and what we, even the average person, can do to fix it.
diversions@dbk.umd.edu
