Earth Days
Sundance 2009
USA, 2009, 101 min., color
Producer/Director: Robert Stone
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Original Music:Michael Giacchino
Cinematographer: Howard Shack
Editor: Don Kleszy
Sound designer: Coll Anderson
Official website: www.earthdaysmovie.com


Director Robert Stone (Radio Bikini, Guerilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst) assembles an inspiring, sobering and ultimately hopeful work in Earth Days, a documentary that recounts the history of the modern environmental movement from its beginnings nearly four decades ago. Environmental activism really began with the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and precipitated an unexpected and galvanizing effect on the national psyche.

Told through the eyes of nine multi-generational and very divergent witnesses, including a secretary of the interior, Stewart Udall, a biologist, Paul Ehrlich; a congressman, Pete McCloskey; and an astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Earth Days is a visually stunning, globe spanning chronicle of watershed events and consciousness-raising realizations that prompted a new awareness: the post-World War II American dream of a future world created by scientific progress, new technology, and economic expansion was rapidly changing into a nightmare.

Deftly weaving together archival footage and talking heads, Stone takes us back to the 1930’s and propels us forward to today. He creates a new awareness through the stitching together of bits and bytes of history, that our reality today was not a surprise for our leaders or ourselves. We have known it was coming for sometime but chose to be pacified and blinded, as Cesar Augustus would say, by “bread and spectacle.” We focused instead on short term personal interests and rampant unchecked Capitalism instead of long term social and societal imperatives. We have lost thirty years, but there is till time--barely. A great piece of work by a multiple-award-winning documentary filmmaker, it showcases the craft of the historical research-documentarian unlike most others. Earth Days is the kick-in-the-pants we all need to incorporate the planets needs into our day to day lives. A must see…more than once. Five stars.