For the first time since Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio is not the star of his latest film. In fact, he’s rarely on screen in his new climate crisis documentary, The 11^th Hour. When he does make an appearance, he’s so modest that he practically blends into the alternately urban and rural scenes in front of which co-directors Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Petersen have placed him. DiCaprio’s a mouthpiece here, lending his larger-than-life name to a cause he’s clearly passionate about.

With DiCaprio in the background, the limelight falls instead on a barrage of experts, comprised of more than 50 accomplished scientists, psychologists, conservationists, academics, authors, activists, journalists, entrepreneurs, religious leaders, and politicians. This strength-in-numbers approach makes for a commanding, frightening, inspiring film. It also means that no matter what your background or interests, there is something in this film for you.

If business is your thing, and you put stock in bonds and the invisible hand, Hour has James Woolsey, Booz Allen vice president (and former CIA director) to talk to you about the economic implications of an unhealthy environment. For any hypochondriacs out there, or those of you close to someone fighting cancer, endocrinologist Theo Colborn sheds light on the connections between the endocrine-disrupting chemicals we use everyday and rising rates of cancers, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. In need of more numbers and hard evidence? Activist Bill McKibben explains that 20 percent of all arctic ice has already melted, and the speed and duration of hurricanes has increased by 50 percent; and NASA director Jim Hansen reveals exactly how much the planet has warmed so far. Not to worry, history buffs, there’s something for you, too. References to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement, mobilization for World War II, and shots of Nixon signing the Clean Air Act, place today’s climate crisis in historical perspective. And author and radio host Thom Hartman points to civilization’s transition from “current sunlight” or “current energy” to “ancient sunlight” (coal, fossil fuel), to explain why we’ve outgrown ourselves on earth.

No matter who you are, in other words, to ignore Hour’s message simply won’t be an option, once you’ve paid your $8.50 and settled into your seat.

While the experts inspire and engage, DiCaprio could have been more dramatic, and less academic in his appeals. He’s a little too good, too meticulously accurate, too calm, too well-spoken and grammatically correct, too conscious of the fact that he’s narrating a documentary instead of playing a role in a movie. He’s not an investigative reporter, after all, but one of today’s most intelligent, conscientious, and talented actors. Why not capitalize on that talent by letting more raw emotion into his entreaties? He’s in a powerful and unique position to speak to the millions of Americans who don’t compost (yet), but who flocked to theaters for Catch Me If You Can, and kudos to him for stepping up to the plate. He's no Al Gore, but DiCaprio would have had an even greater impact had he spoken from his own experience, rather than in generalities. As any Departed fan can tell you, no one does volume, outrage, and personality better than DiCaprio.

Hour’s fearless social commentary and solution-oriented tone are what make it even more compelling than An Inconvenient Truth. It administers a healthy dose of Katrina, of course, and hits all the biggies (global warming, soil erosion, deforestation, wetland protection, overfishing, Big Oil, health issues, etc.), but it doesn’t stop at “What’s wrong with the earth?” It also asks what’s wrong with us—our relationship with nature and with ourselves—and it pulls no punches. We’re greedy, we’re lost, we’re  an infection(just look at our lit-up cities from outer space and see how much we look like bacteria), we’re pursuing happiness in all the wrong ways and writing our own death sentence in the process. But for every “down with people” sentiment expressed in the film, an innovative solution and a note of hope is offered up as well. As author Paul Hawken reminds us, “The great thing about this age is that we get to re-imagine every single thing that we do.” If this is in fact the 11^th hour, then it is also “a great time to be alive," because this generation is going to change the world.

The 11^th Hour opens in Los Angeles and New York City on August 17^th, and nationwide on August 24^th. 

See more articles from In Depth

Posted on Aug 15, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)