Review: The 11th Hour

If Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is a movie that comes from the head, The 11th Hour shoots from the heart –literally, it turns out, as the movie opens with a horror-movie heartbeat sound laid over a montage of images (babies, fire, ice, factory farms, falling buildings) that vaguely illustrate, if not precisely what we’re doing to our planet, at least the notion that we’re not getting our damage deposit back.

The good news, as told by Leonardo DiCaprio, who produced and narrates the film, is that Earth itself is not in any great danger. The bad news: Animals at the top of the food chain and the fringes of the environment are. That’s us.
The bad news about the bad news, however, is that DiCaprio merely introduces this environmental warning, then steps back to allow a bewildering series of talking heads discuss everything from waste-free technologies to carbon taxes to how love is all you need. Say what you will about Gore, but his environmental cri de coeur had the benefit of a strong, singular voice: his. In The 11th Hour, directed by filmmaking sisters Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen, the stage is shared by a raft of scientists and thinkers, none with the benefits of Gore’s Keynote or scissor-lift skills. Admittedly passionate about their various areas of expertise, they add up to a cacophony of people yelling “fire!” in a crowded movie theatre.

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The problem with the recent wave of enviro-docs is that critics risk dismissing the message with the messenger. Gore’s global-warming movie is slickly delivered, something even the vocal minority who consider him a fool or a liar admit. DiCaprio’s film has a much wider scope, discussing not just climate change per se but pollution, diminishing oil supplies and rampant consumerism. This fuzzy focus means there is much that a single viewer can agree and disagree with in the film. It also spells trouble for anyone wishing to use this as a blueprint for change. And it makes for a less satisfying story, if that’s an adjective you can apply to a tale of such woe.

There’s an interesting discussion in the movie about the notion of current or available sunlight, and the fact that throughout most of human history and pre-history, people could use only the energy directly provided by the sun. When night fell, animals went to sleep and, unless you burned up the stored solar energy in wood, no work got done. Our use of fossil fuels means we’re now consuming more energy every day than the sun can replenish, which suggests that unless we do something, one day all the lights will go out. It’s a shame that the film doesn’t provide a sharper picture of when that will be and what’s to be done.

National Post