Paved With Good Intentions: The 11th Hour

Climate change is an issue that has been very important for the last two decades. People have started to worry about what is going to happen to the world and humans if we continue this usage of materials and energy. To learn what happened and to have new perspectives, people are watching documentaries and films about global warming and climate change. A film/documentary made in 2007 is now one of the most searched films about climate change as the film has Leonardo DiCaprio as a narrator and co-producer. The film's intention was to raise awareness and give out a message. The film did what its intention was, but it was very light and it didn’t motivate people to take action.

The 11th Hour, narrated and co-produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, gathers a group of nearly 50 respected experts to speak from their areas of knowledge about how we are despoiling our planet and what we might possibly do to turn things around. From the title, it can be understood that it sounds like a warning and that we don’t have much time left. Even in the film, it says that the time is 11:59:59 and that we have to take action. Then, why is this film wasting the viewers' time as the film is 1 hour and 30 minutes long? This film can be squeezed into 30 minutes of information. Also, the information given in the film is mostly known by everyone. The film should have given more information and examples of how people can help the environment instead of explaining what climate change is and what it's doing to the world.

The architects in the film show how we may construct "green" structures that use solar energy, eat their own waste, and act similarly to trees. There is no reason why every home (certainly every newly constructed one) would not have solar panels on the roof to help heat, light, and cool itself. Actually, there is just one reason: the energy companies would resist any attempt to reroute their massive subsidies toward eco-friendly homes.

The film’s production was not great either. The 50 or so experts intercut and just talk and talk. Even Leonardo DiCaprio sounds like he’s presenting a school project to a class. They are all depicted as talking heads, so we hear them talk. Then we get some nature footage that was taken by a helicopter or something, and we see them talk more, until finally we’re thinking, enough already; I get it.

Some of the issues raised in The 11th Hour are common knowledge; there was no new information on climate change or global warming. It would be acceptable if the film inspired us to take action and accomplish things, but it does neither. The production was also subpar, with mostly dull nature photos and videos. "A bore," Meyer the hairy economist once informed private investigator Travis McGee, "is anyone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with companionship." Despite its great intentions, this film is boring.

Made and written by Mehmet Kutay Bozkurt. All rights reserved.