On one usual afternoon, as I lay on my bed surfing through the videos on the YouTube app, I happened to see this documentary on climate change starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I am not someone who has her knowledge up to the full brim of the current affairs taking place, but I did hear of Leo’s documentary last year. But like most people (okay, some people) I didn’t give much heed. Yesterday as I hit the play button and it started grabbing my attention with every little movement of the slider, I decided to better download the video and watch it offline on a much bigger screen(well, less stress for the eyes), in a much more serious way.
After almost a year of it being released, why see it now? Well, I had no plans as such (to be honest completely), but it was the video caption that caught my eye. “BEFORE THE FLOOD”.
I was planning on writing a sort-of-but-not-exactly review on this documentary. But then my significant other pointed out that the documentary is quite a popular one and a lot of people have already watched it. It was then that I decided not to go for exact reviewing but rather focusing on some parts in the documentary, here and there, that caught my attention. Also am not totally confident if I will be doing justice to this important documentary by writing a review about it. I will leave that to the experts.
For those lot, who haven’t watched it yet, I recommend you all to do so. This documentary needs to be seen and shared and shown to all. And taken seriously too, of course. In a time period where we choose to be unaware and ignorant, just like I am.
So here’s a list of the things that I found quite interesting while watching the documentary.
1.The Garden of Earthly Delights
The documentary starts with a powerful divided painting that Leonardo DiCaprio mentions,he used to see as an infant, hung over his crib. It wonderfully depicts a harmonious and peaceful scene of the world in the first painting. As we move on to the second one, the scene gets messy, interfering and overcrowded. This is followed by a horrifying scene in the third painting as a result of the aftermath depicted in the second painting. Will the world really be ending this way? The way it is now, “definitely” is the answer.
2.The lands of Mordor
We get to see an aerial view of the consequences of the excessive use of fossil fuels that has ultimately resulted in vast areas of barren lands. Leo says “It kind of looks like Mordor” from his helicopter seat. A perfect comparison,I say to myself.
3.The melting sea ice of Greenland and the Arctic
We are all aware of the rise in the sea and the ocean levels in the past years. We are also aware about the reasons that have led to this. In the documentary, Leo tries to make us grasp the issue more seriously. At one point, we are shown the length of a hose depicting the amount of ice that has melted in the past five years and by the look of it, it sure looks drastic. A home to so many captivating sea creatures like the seals, penguins and the narwhals. Dr.Enric Sala mentions “Around 2040,we will be able to sail over the North Pole”. How dangerous that actually will be in the coming future, none can fathom yet.
4.Climate change deniers
Quite a surprising part, in the entire video. When you can yourself already see how things are changing in the environment, how possibly could you so strongly deny the threats of climate change. The documentary goes on to expose these very people-the politicians and the company bureaucrats (mainly, the manufacturers of the very products that put a threat to the environment). We are also shown how the people who try to show the facts about the degrading, incoming dangerous situation of the environment are subjected to mockery and death-threats.
5.If China can, why can’t we
China is the biggest contributor of pollution in the world. But I was drawn into how the documentary was able to perfectly take the viewers into believing initially that China is the main reason behind the huge bad impact on nature, but then also trying to show us later how China has also taken numerous steps to reduce pollution and invest in energy that is sustainable.
6.“There will always be life in the ocean, but it’s not gonna be necessarily the kind of life we want”
That’s what marine ecologist Jeremy Jackson says in the documentary. The documentary tries to focus upon the dying coral reefs. A perfect sign of how human-ways are having a negative impact on sea life too, apart from others. Reason-Oceans take up nearly most of the CO₂ emissions. Thus, depletion of life under water.
7.Natural forest fires(?)
Surprisingly with an element of shock, the remaining prevalent rainforests of the world are not being left alone too. People, as mentioned in the documentary, intentionally start forest fires to clear the land for plantations. In Indonesia, companies bribe govt.officials to issue a permit for them to start burning the land.Who knows, they might probably also be secretly hiring goons to not let anyone come in their way.
8.Methane released in the air
Cows. They release a huge amount of methane. Higher is the consumption of beef, higher goes the graph of livestock farming,thus, resulting in a significant amount of release of methane in the air.
9.At around exactly 57 minutes and 3 seconds from the start of the video,a joy to the eye- Elon Musk.
Okay. So this part, well,umm, I was dedicatedly focused only on Elon and remain stuck, awed by his short presence in the documentary, during that entire scene. That man has some of the most brightest, earth-friendly and progressive ideas and views under his collar.
10.Climate change conferences-Any remarkable changes yet?
Leo himself points out that the climate summits haven’t been able to bring in the massive changes that they were supposed to.
11.Leo’s power-packed impactful narration in the end
The ending of the documentary was my most favourite and also the most enthralling part. Leo says,
“Now if this was a movie, we could write the ending of the script and we could figure out a way out of this mess. But real life doesn’t work like that and we can’t pretend that we know how this is gonna end. The only thing that we can do is control what we do next , how we live our lives, what we consume, how we get involved and how we use our vote to tell our leaders that we know the truth about climate change”
If Leo’s wonderful narration doesn’t give you goosebumps, then I don’t know what will.
That’s all. It’s a beautiful place to live in. The Earth. Instead of waiting for the flood and hoping for some Noah to come up and save us, we can start today itself in investing and taking small steps to save the planet that was, is and will always continue to be a home to us all.
kOoBA's World 