subject: Top 5 Green Movies [print this page] By Arto Torosoglu By Arto Torosoglu
It is arguable as to when exactly the green movement started, but most would point to April 22, 1970, the date of the first Earth Day in United States history. The nation began to accept that there were environmental issues that needed to be addressed, and people started to come together to fight for the cause. Another place accepted the green movement as well, Hollywood. Studios and independent filmmakers began to portray their views of the various environmental problems. Some were a little more plausible and accurate than others. Hollywood's interpretation on the environment was basing movies on eventual chaos and mass destruction. Some may remember movies like "Fire Down Below" starring Steven Segal, or "The Day After Tomorrow" starring Dennis Quaid. Independent filmmakers had a different approach creating documentaries about certain topics and investigating them to their core. Envrirocitizen.org has recognized their efforts and respects their drive to promote a green culture through informative filmmaking. Here are some green movies that are not only popular, but truly fantastic at illustrating its purpose and the problem it represents. They are in no specific order.
Food Inc. Directed by Robert Kenner
Director Robert Kenner takes us on an adventure through the world of corporate food production showing us where exactly are food is coming from. We as Americans don't feel the need to know where our cows are grown and how our vegetables are cultivated. We just go to the supermarkets and assume that because they are on the shelves that they are fine. Food Inc. shows us how terribly wrong we are about where our food comes from and how they exploit our natural resources to create chemicals for mass production. It was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Original Documentary".
An Inconvenient Truth Directed by Davis Guggenheim
Al Gore who is most recognized for his term as Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2003, is also quite the environmental activist. Director Davis Guggenheim follows Gore through his travels to educate the American people about the environmental problems. He goes to locations presenting a slide show that demonstrates the data and predictions made for climate change in the future at the rate we are going. He communicates what we as Americans must do in order to solve these problems before we face even larger ones. The film won two Academy Awards, "Best Documentary" and "Best Achievement in Music".
Erin Brockovich Directed By Steven Soderbergh
Erin Brockovich who is played by Julia Roberts, luckily acquires a job at the law office she owes money to after a car accident trial that she lost. While working at the law office, she finds a case regarding a corporation and while reading the details realizes that the information doesn't make sense. The corporation was poisoning the Town of Hinkley with the pollution they were releasing into the town's water supply. The corporation knew of the problem and orchestrated a cover-up of the entire matter. Erin battles the corporation to bring justice to the people of Hinkley. Julia Roberts won an Oscar for "Best Actress" and had 4 other nominations.
WALL-E Directed by Andrew Stanton
It is probably the most unrealistic, but certainly the most imaginative. In the animated film, earth is controlled by a large corporation called BuyNLarge which evolves from a fast food establishment into the ultimate mega corporation providing everything humans need. They eventually consume all of earth's natural resources and pollute it to the point where humans can no long survive there so BuyNLarge creates a massive spaceship that carries humans into outer space until everything is cleaned up by the WALL-E robots deployed. 700 years later the clean-up is a failure however one WALL-E robot survives using the parts from other WALL-Es. This last WALL-E unexpectedly embarks on a journey to make the world habitable again. This film won an Academy Award for "Best Animated Film".
The Cove Directed by Louie Psihoyos
In my opinion, the saddest of the five movies, The Cove takes away the glamorous perception we have of SeaWorld. The filmmakers go to Japan where a cruel black market for dolphins is located. They film their efforts to free the dolphins that are sold and mistreated by Japanese fisherman for pleasure and profits. This film won the Oscar for "Best Documentary".
These are 5 powerful green films that will not only give you plenty of information, but also energize your will to help the environment. They share similar ideologies to the ones we have at Envirocitizen.org. The goal is to promote the green movement and what better way than by turning the problem into a form of entertainment that will capture the attention of the public. Animated films, documentaries and even studio films continue to inform us about the different problems that we know so little about. Hopefully, all of this information will accumulate and our will to make changes grows exponentially.
