Home : a Movie Analysis
HOME
A Movie Analysis
(Maritess J. Balquiedra, DevC 263)
Home is an environmental documentary by the French actor-photographer-turned-film director Yann Arthus Bertrand. With aerial footages from fifty-four countries, the movie chronicles the present day state of the Earth, and sends out a very strong message, the planet we call home is in trouble, and we, the dominant species, are largely responsible. The main theme expressed throughout the film is that of linkage, how all organisms and the Earth are linked with each other in a critical natural balance, and how nothing and no one can be self-sufficient. After getting this message across, the movie asks: “We have the power to change, what are we waiting for?”
The movie starts by taking the viewer back to the beginning of time, and explains how and when life on Earth came about. The first few minutes showed footage of the beginning of the natural world, starting with single-celled algae developing at the edges of volcanic springs. By showing the algae’s important role in the evolution of photosynthesis, the many different species of plants, which all originated from this one-celled life form, were also explored. We learn that the world is four billion years old while humans are only 200,000 years old. However, that so short a time we have been around, we have had greater impact than any other species. The film says that in the last five decades alone, the Earth has been more radically changed than by all other previous generations of humanity.
A bigger part of the film is made up of a series of similar facts illustrated by moving images, which highlight the actions of humans causing damage to the Earth, and their possible irreversible consequences if the trend will not change. It shows the agricultural revolution and its impact. It portrays today’s predicament about cattle ranches, deforestation, global fresh water shortages, the use of non-renewable fossil water, man’s dependency on fossil fuels, the
A Movie Analysis
(Maritess J. Balquiedra, DevC 263)
Home is an environmental documentary by the French actor-photographer-turned-film director Yann Arthus Bertrand. With aerial footages from fifty-four countries, the movie chronicles the present day state of the Earth, and sends out a very strong message, the planet we call home is in trouble, and we, the dominant species, are largely responsible. The main theme expressed throughout the film is that of linkage, how all organisms and the Earth are linked with each other in a critical natural balance, and how nothing and no one can be self-sufficient. After getting this message across, the movie asks: “We have the power to change, what are we waiting for?”
The movie starts by taking the viewer back to the beginning of time, and explains how and when life on Earth came about. The first few minutes showed footage of the beginning of the natural world, starting with single-celled algae developing at the edges of volcanic springs. By showing the algae’s important role in the evolution of photosynthesis, the many different species of plants, which all originated from this one-celled life form, were also explored. We learn that the world is four billion years old while humans are only 200,000 years old. However, that so short a time we have been around, we have had greater impact than any other species. The film says that in the last five decades alone, the Earth has been more radically changed than by all other previous generations of humanity.
A bigger part of the film is made up of a series of similar facts illustrated by moving images, which highlight the actions of humans causing damage to the Earth, and their possible irreversible consequences if the trend will not change. It shows the agricultural revolution and its impact. It portrays today’s predicament about cattle ranches, deforestation, global fresh water shortages, the use of non-renewable fossil water, man’s dependency on fossil fuels, the