Looking down on who we are

Whenever we see a good film – we are often pulled out of intense action with a visual God’s eye view- a long aerial shot that seems to put the intensity of the characters’ dilemmas into a wider perspective. Hitchcock in particular loved this technique. In the days of the silents of Eisenstein we would often have these wonderful visual montages later scored to beautiful music. The art of film seems purer when we see simple images and music. Great documentaries like Koyaanisqatsi. (And other films of Godfrey Reggio) take aerial and time lapse photography with music to a height when they are able to equate the activities of man to the production of hot dogs via simple visuals and editing.

Now to celebrate Earth Day we have “Home” a film released on DVD, in theaters and on the internet simultaneously this past earth day to provide a simple story. Master aerial photography by director Yann Arthus-Bertrand provides stunning visuals of earth as Glenn Close tells the story of our world which soon becomes a cautionary tale of exploitation and abuse.

I love to see things told in pure visuals and the great footage shot and scored tells the tale of our abuse of the earth in a far more impactful way then all the graphs of “An Inconvenient Truth” The God’s eye view makes this story stronger and more foreboding. A brilliant blend of science and art make for a great film for the mind and eye. The warnings hypnotic films like these continue to sound need to be addressed or our future is bleak.