The 11th Hour | DVD Review

We know Hollywood loves their sequels, but An Inconvenient Truth 2?

That’s what it seemed The 11th Hour would be, just another iteration of the surprisingly popular and influential Al Gore wakeup call on the travesty of global warming. Yet the film is surprisingly refreshing, even though it has its failings. Featuring interviews with over 50 leading activists, scientists, world leaders, innovators, Leonardo DiCaprio narrates a film that packs a lot of punch. When everyone from Stephen Hawking to Mikhail Gorbachev is pleading with you to take notice, how can you turn a blind eye?

Instead of just digesting the reflections of one man as in An Inconvenient Truth, viewers receive a gamut of talking head-delivered information, interspersed with shockingly beautiful and shockingly devastating images of our globe (of the 10 o’clock news variety). On top of global warming, deforestation, animal extinction and habitat destruction are discussed. The film takes a broad look at human impact on the earth, sometimes taking too broad of a sweep to enter into any meaningful debate. This is the film’s one failing; it packs a punch with more urgency and data than its Al Gore predecessor, but it does little to address the industries and corporations it blames in person, nor does it offer many solutions for the consumers that feed them.

Because the comparisons to Gore’s global warming film have pretty much been exhausted, it is worth pointing out that although An Inconvenient Truth was an Oscar-winner and made almost $50-million, The 11th Hour barely caused a stir, placing DiCaprio on the cover of Vanity Fair’s 2007 Green issue but only running in limited release and enticing a much reduced number of filmgoers at less than $1-million. Are people getting worn down by the gloom-and-doom-speech and driven to grab frothy comedies rather than take action? This is not just a problem of dollars-and-cents for an activist film such as this; if your goal is to enact global change, you have to be worried if only an extremely small portion of the world’s population seem to be paying attention. The film did garner mostly positive critical reviews, although an outspoken Vancouver Sun writer deemed it mere “anti-forestry scare tactics.”


There are about an hour and a half of bonus features, and this plentiful array actually interested me as much if not more than the film itself—a certain rarity with DVD extras, usually compilations of inane filler. Debate delved to greater depths, and more solutions were and direct suggestions for action were offered. Together these addressed what was often sadly lacking in the film itself.

Natures Operating Instructions and Solutions
“Nature’s Operating Instructions and Solutions” puts nature in the teacher’s seat. It proposes that humans need to learn from mother earth herself. Science writer Janine Benyus talks at length, although anthropologist Jeremy Norby and mycologist Paul Stamets get their two cents in. Anything from biomimicry (looking at plant and animal designs to help create sustainable technologies for humans), hallucinogens, and healing plants form the topic discussion

Solutions We Have Right Now
“Solutions We Have Right Now” gives a textbook skim of technological, scientific, and legislative advances that could increase sustainability. The connections between corporate structure and sustainability were especially insightful.

Wonder of the World
“Wonder of the World” stacks together bunches of ‘ooh-aaah’ moments, showing clips from amazing parts of our unique, beautiful, and often mysterious planet.

Our Reactions in the Face of Environmental Collapse
“Our Reactions in the Face of Environmental Collapse” attempts to look at how humans have reacted in thought and action to the impending ecological degradation.

Religious Perspectives
“Religious Perspectives” interviews Rabbi Michael Lerner, Reverend James Parks Morton, and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. These religious leaders discuss human obligation and sustainability from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim viewpoints.

This look at human planetary overuse offers something more holistic than its predecessors but maybe a little too holistic – that is, too general – for the average filmgoer. Leaves you riled up but ill-equipped to actually enact change. Don’t miss the bonus features.

Movie rating – 4

Disc Rating – 4.5