Despite its flaws, Leonardo DiCaprio's Before the Flood is an important film
In all honesty, Leonardo DiCaprio and National Geographic’s new documentary, Before the Flood, hardly covers new ground as far as the changing climate is concerned. If, that is, you have at all been paying any attention to climate change and its dangers.
The truth is, we are not too bothered, even if we know the reality. The superficial, everyday routine keeps our eyes firmly shut to the massive changes going on around us. And we continue our insanely-paced consumption and destruction even as the world burns.
Maybe that’s why, despite its shortcomings, Before the Flood is the most important film of the year.
Its hard-hitting, passionate storytelling pokes all the right points, evokes a sense of horror that should have been aroused half a century ago, and seriously tackles the lethargic and corrupt political lobby.
Sure, there are flaws in the film. Was there anything scientifically new that DiCaprio and filmmaker Fisher Stevens brought forward? No.
Would it have been better had DiCaprio’s often exaggerated empathy, and sometimes silly hypocrisy, been toned down? Yes.
Could the visuals be any better (if you watch NatGeo, Discovery Channel or Animal Planet even once a week, you know you have seen it all)? Yes.
But cancel the noise and focus on the underlying message. DiCaprio’s persuasive narration brings home the fact that climate change is real. Something we have been turning a blind eye to blatantly, consuming mercilessly, unconsciously passing on the baton of saving the planet to the next generation. A generation, as the film points out, that won’t even have 40 to 50 years to save whatever is left.
Picking up from the Kigali conference, where 170 nations recently signed a legally binding deal to reduce the use of planet-warming HFCs, the film explores the role of developing nations vs developed countries in contribution to environment change.
As DiCaprio travels to South Asia, meeting important activists like Sunita Narain in India, he tries to understand how growing economies like India and China are doing better in slowing down deploration of environment, when compared with mammoth economies like the US, which are consuming hungrily.
Use of solar panels in China and biodegradable fuels in India shows their sensitive approach to growth. The passionate argument by Narain, in which she points out how the US is the biggest contributor to climate change, baffles and humbles DiCaprio almost into silence.
The films also breaks stereotypes. For instance, when DiCaprio reaches Greenland, he is welcomed by a basic, bare-minimum antenna-like structure standing precariously against the bellowing winds.
Climatologist Box explains that that is the main climate control station. "I imagined it will be like an igloo, with hundreds of scientists doing experiments. It really does look like a broken down pool equipment," exclaims DiCaprio. And the same thought runs through your head.
There has been a backlash against DiCaprio for starring in the film, for maybe stealing focus. But how is a celebrity speaking for the environment ever a bad thing?
A celebrity who is speaking in his capacity as a designated United Nations Messenger of Peace.
DiCaprio has been fighting for a better climate ever since he was 20. It’s not new to him. And it is hundred times better than wasting precious talent and position on tabloid gossips and commercial advertisements.
DiCaprio’s serious intent is visible in his constant thirst for knowledge about climate change and his earnest request to the world to take the current situation seriously.
The most shocking part of the film is shot in Greenland, when the actor stands holding one end of a 30-feet rope with the other end held by climatologist Professor Jason E Box. The extended rope depicts the total height of the ice that has melted in just five years. That is hundreds of cubic kilometres of ice in just half a decade.
It leaves you baffled, ashamed and amazed at how fast the climate is really changing and how little we are really doing.
But the film leaves you hanging onto a tethered rope of hope. Is there anyway to reverse the impact of what humanity has done to nature? No. But is there a way to slow down the degradation, preserve what is left? Yes.
The Great Barrier Reef is on life support. Greenland’s ice sheet is disappearing. The Arctic is melting, already opening the flood gates. The oceans are heating and rising up. The rainforests are wiped out on the pretext of development.
The least we can do is consume less and consume smart. Switch off the lights when you leave a room. Switch to LEDs. Harvest rain water. Recycle kitchen waste and paper. Use public transport. Carpool. Turn vegetarian. If you must eat meat, eat chicken instead of red meat.
Elect a more environment-conscious government. Above all, drill it into your head that it is all of our responsibility.
The best part of the film? It is available everywhere online, for free and in high definition. Thank you, Leo.
Watch the complete film here: