Revolution
Three and a half stars out of five
Documentary
Directed by: Rob Stewart
Duration: 90 mins.
Parental guidance: Images of dead fish, and rabbits being preyed upon by lynx may be disturbing to young viewers.
Playing at: Colossus, Forum, Sph?retech and Taschereau cinemas
MONTREAL - ?We have a decision to make, and we don?t have much time.?
After revealing the devastating plight of the world?s shark population with his acclaimed 2007 documentary Sharkwater, Toronto director Rob Stewart looks at nothing less than the end of life as we know it with his urgent new film, Revolution.
The decision is whether we?re going to let the planet continue on its path toward self-destruction. It?s no secret that the environment is in great peril, and it?s getting worse by the minute. We know this; but why don?t we care? Or rather, why aren?t we doing anything about it?
Stewart makes an impassioned attempt to break past our apathy. There is a lot of bad news in Revolution; there is also a great love of the ocean, nature and all of the incredible creatures who inhabit it.
A charismatic storyteller, Stewart leads us on his personal journey that began as an animal-loving kid. He takes us through his experience touring Sharkwater, up to the aha moment when he realized the story was much bigger than sharks.
Why stop at sharks when we?re on track to eradicate all marine life by 2048, an audience member asks him at a Hong Kong screening, prompting him to look at the bigger picture.
Oceans cover two thirds of the planet, and hold 80 per cent of life on Earth, we learn. Coral reefs make up less than 1 per cent of the ocean floor, yet hold 25 per cent of its species and are the basis for 60 per cent of its fisheries. But the coral is dying, and the fish are disappearing in record numbers.
Stewart travels the globe to get the scoop on why, and what to do now. He heads to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, where great expanses of coral are turning into chilling ?dead zones,? of which there are now 400 in the world. Our oceans have become 35 per cent more acidic, due to increased CO2 emissions ? a toxic shift that is depleting oxygen levels in the water and annihilating sea life.
In Papua New Guinea, we see pygmy sea horses and the amazing flamboyant cuttlefish, whose marvels Stewart explains with an infectious sense of wonder. Over to Madagascar, where deforestation is rampant, threatening the habitat of the trippy (and incredibly cute) lemurs
We are on the fast track to a sixth ?nature extinction,? Stewart says, unless we do something drastic. The solution is not complicated. ?We know what to do,? in the words of one interviewee. But there appears to be no political will to do it.
Canada doesn?t get off easy, getting blasted for its ravaging tarsands and lack of climate change policy.
Instead of giving up, Stewart turns things around, focusing on youth-led activist movements and urging viewers to join the fight against big business and apathetic government ? to stage the revolution that is desperately needed to save the planet before it?s too late.
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