Recipe for Disaster

I saw this film tonight at Bloor Cinema. It's about a family in Finland that decides to give up fossil fuels for a year. This means no cars, planes, and switching to renewable energy (all easy enough, really), and not buying anything made out of or packaged in plastic. That was (in my opinion) the hard part. It seems easy enough to avoid plastic and not buy over packaged goods, but this family gave up all plastic altogether, which proved to be challenging when shopping for toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. There was a Q&A session with the filmmaker via Skype after the film was shown.

They made many changes in their lifestyle, not just for the one year but long term. It was the husband's idea and the wife wasn't as keen, but I liked how they involved the children in the project and were very open with the kids about climate change, doing it in a way that was fun for the kids and not stressful.

They were an example of actually making real changes in your life to reduce your carbon footprint (note that the film is focused on carbon and doesn't really discuss many other environmental issues).

Living in Toronto and getting around fine by bus and subway I personally have an enormous dislike for car culture and get annoyed when people just can't seem to live without cars. I understand that the infrastructure in many areas is so built around driving (which also makes for a very classist system) that it is difficult for people to live their lives without cars. When you're used to driving everywhere its hard to make the decision not to. But if someone took your car away, you would find alternatives, adjust, and do just fine. Yes, some people actually do need their car, but most people don't but aren't willing to make the personal sacrifice to give it up. Anyways, this film is aimed at middle class suburb dwellers, so if you think you can't do it, then watch this film and see people who are. Also, biodiesel itself has led to many environmental problems not discussed in this film, so please do reasearch on that yourself and note that the film maker carefully sourced his biodiesel.

Persepolis

This film starts with a young girl in Iran who is living through the revolution to overthrow the Shah and introduce communism. The film is a true story and is based on a French graphic novel written by Marjane Satrapi . The film is animated using drawings similar to the ones used in the book, and follows the relationships among those dreaming of communism, the war that kills many to no benefit, the lack of freedoms in Iran, and the fear and secrecy that its residences must live with. We follow Marjane as she grows up, learns about the politics affecting her country from her relatives, many of whom have served jail time because of their beliefs, receives messages from God, moves to Austria as a teen, falls in and out of love, deals with homelessness and depression, returns home and leaves again. The dark drawings and animation are beautiful and illustrate the hearts and struggles of the characters, how Iran is part of who they are, yet the country they love and care about restricts them so much. Amongst their family and friends, they are able to live enjoyable lives, yet live under fear of the authorities. They remain committed to their political ideals and never allow the appeal of leading a comfortable life come in the way of fighting for what they think is right.

The World According to Monsanto

Explores the prominence that Monsanto has around the globe, how it is often misleading about the safety of its products, and scandals that the company has been involved in. It discusses biotechnology, the affect of 'roundup ready' crops, and the effects that Monsanto has on farmers, communities and consumers around the globe. I liked the diversity of people interviewed for the film, and how it was filmed on location in different areas that are experiencing the negative effects of Monsanto. One thing I didn’t like about this documentary was how it kept showing the woman at the computer looking up things on Google. This is effective in showing how accessible and widespread this information is (search results would show thousands of hits), however it became boring very quickly. It would be effective enough to use that method a couple of times, but it kept going back to it throughout the movie. It also made their research methods seem less reliable. Obviously they did not solely use google to do their research, and all the sources that they showed that came up on google were reliable sources, it just didn’t seem professional to consistently refer back to google, and I felt that they could have shown the documents and highlighted text without constantly showing the woman searching on google, as this would make it far less monotonous and would allow the movie to flow better. The part of the film that I found most interesting was the affects that genetically altered corn is having on traditional farming families in Mexico. They have a local and sustainable food system and Monsanto’s modified seeds are threatening their food sovereignty. I personally do not trust Monsanto one bit, and am concerned for the future of our food system. Monsanto is putting our health, environment, and food security at risk. If we let them control our food system, they basically have control over our lives. This film briefly touched on gene patents, but didn’t talk about the issue of farmers being sued if Monsanto finds plants with their gene in farmer’s fields, or terminator seeds (plants that won’t reproduce, so farmers cannot save seeds, and must rely on Monsanto to buy their seeds every year. This film showed many problems of Monsanto, yet there are even more to explore. This corporation cannot be trusted and I will write an entire blog about it later. This film served as a reminder of Monsanto’s power and made me want to start growing more of my own food.

Sharkwater

Documentary on the shark fin industry and the killing of sharks. Discusses how shark numbers are dwindling and not a lot is being done to protect sharks despite the fact that they are recognized as being endangered. The filmmaker is very passionate about sharks and has spent a lot of time with them in the water, and in this film he questions human perceptions about sharks and tries to prove that they really aren't dangerous. This leads us to ask why people are so afraid of sharks, and maybe this fear is partially why little is being done to protect these animals. The shark fin industry is ruthless and extremely wasteful (the shark is killed for its fins and the rest of the body is thrown back in the water). Why is China holding on so tightly to this 'delicacy', and why have so many other countries become involved in supplying the fins? I found it fascinating how sharks were one of the first mammals on earth (they were here 150 million years before dinosaurs), and the importance they hold in the ocean: being the top predator, they effect all life below them. Several people who are involved in the shark fin industry were interviewed, and they all come off as being extremely ignorant. One man who is a shark hunter simply kills as many great white sharks as he can, and believes that he is saving peoples lives by doing this, to prevent shark attacks. (The film also goes into great detail on how exaggerated the risk of shark attacks is). This film is a reminder of just how difficult it is to regulate what is going on in the oceans, and often laws aren't effective to protect species.