Phil Gutis's Blog
Our Finest Hour?
August 17, 2007
Posted by Phil Gutis in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , The Media and the Environment
NRDC Trustee Leonardo DiCaprio's new documentary, The 11th Hour, drew a warm review from The New York Times today. The review, by Manohla Dargis, calls the movie "surprisingly affecting" and says it may not change your life, but "it may inspire you to recycle that old slogan-button your folks pinned on their dashikis back in the day: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."
That, interestingly enough, is how I approach the world from my desk at NRDC. I always tell people that we are not looking for perfection — I know I'm not perfect — but we are asking for participation. In my home, we've switched most of our light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent. But I know many at NRDC who can't do that because their significant others really really hate the light that comes from CFC bulbs. But those folks help in other ways that I cannot or will not do. (I, for example, have an innate inability to turn off lights when I leave a room and I really like my air conditioning.)
Back to the movie: It would be a lie to say that I completely loved The 11th Hour. I found some of the imagery unnecessarily harsh and some of the policy prescriptions less than wise. (Or completely undoable.)
But I certainly appreciate the intent of the movie and thought the section about how we can solve the problems of global warming and other environmental challenges important and powerful. I do wish that section came earlier and lasted longer, but those criticisms should not draw from the overall importance of the movie, which earned a "NYTimes Critics Pick" today.
The movie opens in Los Angeles and New York today. It opens in other cities in future weeks. You can check out the schedule at the movie's website at www.11thhouraction.com and, if I've done this correctly, the trailer should appear below.
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