DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET
****
Directors: Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey
Principal cast:
David Attenborough
Country: USA
Classification: PG
Runtime: 83 mins.
Australian release date: 28 September 2020.
Global treasure David Attenborough describes his documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet as “a witness statement” to the extraordinary changes on Earth he has seen during his many years of making programs about the natural environment. He states that the world has less bio-diversity now than when his career began and, if this negative trend continues, our globe will become “a place in which we cannot live.”
Addressing the camera - and us - directly, Attenborough begins his journey in Chernobyl, Ukraine, site of the April 1986 nuclear disaster that led to the entire city being evacuated in less than 48 hours. He shows how vegetation and its accompanying animal life is now reclaiming the decaying conurbation and that this is a sign that what has been done can be undone if we give nature a chance. He informs us that there have been five “extinction events” on Earth so far but, after each, the planet has recovered and life has begun anew, leading to the current Holocene Age, the era of man. In the recent ABC-TV series, The Great Acceleration, well-known climate scientist Will Steffen said, “The Holocene has been a real sweet spot for humanity,” but Attenborough points out that it is now at risk and mankind’s ill treatment of the natural world is leading to a sixth extinction event which has already caused the loss of numerous species of flora and fauna.
Throughout David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, to back up his argument, the natural historian shows us cards containing three measurements that have changed dramatically over the course of his 93 years (he turned 94 after making this documentary): global population; the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and the amount of ‘wild’ terrain left in the world. Unsurprisingly yet nonetheless alarmingly, the first two have increased greatly and the third measure was 66% when Attenborough was young and it’s now half that amount, 33%. This causes him to conclude that, “We need to ‘re-wild’ the world,” in other words, to increase bio-diversity, if we are to survive.
The film draws on all nine series that make up the BBC’s Life collection of programs (Life on Earth, The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, Life in the Freezer, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth and Life in Cold Blood), so it contains some extraordinary footage. It makes you want to go back and revisit some of those terrific series. The maestro of natural history programs expounds his dire observations more in sorrow than in anger, accompanied by some suitably sad and poignant music, but he ends the film on an optimistic note. He informs us that all is not lost, there are remedies for our self-inflicted wounds but we need to act urgently and he’s quietly confident that we will stem the flow of blood once we realise the seriousness of our situation. Hmmm!
This important documentary will be in cinemas nationally (except Victoria) from September 28 for a limited season, from one to two sessions in some cinemas, to daily screenings for a full week at others. The cinema release includes some special content - a half-hour conversation between David Attenborough and Michael Palin - following the film. David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet will also appear on Netflix later in the year but without the ‘in conversation’ add-on so, do yourself a favour, and see it on the big screen. You can find session details at www.attenborough.film or on cinema websites.
Principal cast:
David Attenborough
Country: USA
Classification: PG
Runtime: 83 mins.
Australian release date: 28 September 2020.
Global treasure David Attenborough describes his documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet as “a witness statement” to the extraordinary changes on Earth he has seen during his many years of making programs about the natural environment. He states that the world has less bio-diversity now than when his career began and, if this negative trend continues, our globe will become “a place in which we cannot live.”
Addressing the camera - and us - directly, Attenborough begins his journey in Chernobyl, Ukraine, site of the April 1986 nuclear disaster that led to the entire city being evacuated in less than 48 hours. He shows how vegetation and its accompanying animal life is now reclaiming the decaying conurbation and that this is a sign that what has been done can be undone if we give nature a chance. He informs us that there have been five “extinction events” on Earth so far but, after each, the planet has recovered and life has begun anew, leading to the current Holocene Age, the era of man. In the recent ABC-TV series, The Great Acceleration, well-known climate scientist Will Steffen said, “The Holocene has been a real sweet spot for humanity,” but Attenborough points out that it is now at risk and mankind’s ill treatment of the natural world is leading to a sixth extinction event which has already caused the loss of numerous species of flora and fauna.
Throughout David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, to back up his argument, the natural historian shows us cards containing three measurements that have changed dramatically over the course of his 93 years (he turned 94 after making this documentary): global population; the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and the amount of ‘wild’ terrain left in the world. Unsurprisingly yet nonetheless alarmingly, the first two have increased greatly and the third measure was 66% when Attenborough was young and it’s now half that amount, 33%. This causes him to conclude that, “We need to ‘re-wild’ the world,” in other words, to increase bio-diversity, if we are to survive.
The film draws on all nine series that make up the BBC’s Life collection of programs (Life on Earth, The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, Life in the Freezer, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth and Life in Cold Blood), so it contains some extraordinary footage. It makes you want to go back and revisit some of those terrific series. The maestro of natural history programs expounds his dire observations more in sorrow than in anger, accompanied by some suitably sad and poignant music, but he ends the film on an optimistic note. He informs us that all is not lost, there are remedies for our self-inflicted wounds but we need to act urgently and he’s quietly confident that we will stem the flow of blood once we realise the seriousness of our situation. Hmmm!
This important documentary will be in cinemas nationally (except Victoria) from September 28 for a limited season, from one to two sessions in some cinemas, to daily screenings for a full week at others. The cinema release includes some special content - a half-hour conversation between David Attenborough and Michael Palin - following the film. David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet will also appear on Netflix later in the year but without the ‘in conversation’ add-on so, do yourself a favour, and see it on the big screen. You can find session details at www.attenborough.film or on cinema websites.