I wanted Planet Earth, but I got a super preachy YouTube video padded out to an hour and a half. The exclusively aerial shot gimmick gets old quick because there is no variety in visuals and there is nothing new. The entire documentary is an anti-capitalist (damn near anti-human) propaganda piece that speaks only in generalities as Glenn Close lazily narrates Humanity's rise and the industrialization of Earth. The soundtrack is obnoxious and distracting. Glenn Close (who is the American version's narrator) has no emotion or passion and slowly lulls you to sleep. By the end of the movie, they introduce slides of facts becuse I guess they only had Close for a couple of hours and ran out of time? There are plenty of documentaries that have even stronger environmental messages, but have a better narrator, beautiful visuals, and heart. Home feels like it was made by a computer that is powered by CNN and the Earth Liberation Front. It's so unbelievably boring and it really wants you to think it has something important to say, but refuses to talk straight. Towards the last half hour, they add in an immigration spin (because that's just what Hollywood does now?) that makes no sense. There are hundreds of pro-environment documentaries out there that can get a message across without feeling like it's preaching from a soapbox, but Home revels in its arrogance. 90 minutes of "America bad (India does bad stuff too, but America is the most bad)! Man in Bangladesh is nice man! Be nice man! Did we mention America bad? Poor African country has a school. African school is good! American school is bad because America uses oil!" There is a strong difference between emotional manipulation (Which can work. See any Humane Society advert for reference) and shaming (which more likely serves to piss off your audience). There is also a huge level of hypocrisy to this documentary when you find out that it was financed by the PR wing of Kering, a French company that specializes in luxury goods and owns brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Brioni and Pomellato. A documentary that rails against the extravagances of an industrial world made by one of the most well known creators of superfluous things such as $3000 hand bags and pre-ripped jeans feels more than a little inauthentic. If Bill Gates wants to yell at me that me using plastic bags at the grocery store, at least he's not using plastic bags himself. Kering making a $12,000,000 propaganda piece to distract us from it's entire business of selling extravagance is laughable at best. I can appreciate documentaries even if I'm not 100% in agreement with their message, but those docs talk to me, not at me. I'd recommend re-watching any one of the BBC's nature documentaries over this garbage.
I wanted Planet Earth, but I got a super preachy YouTube video padded out to an hour and a half. The exclusively aerial shot gimmick gets old quick because there is no variety in visuals and there is nothing new. The entire documentary is an anti-capitalist (damn near anti-human) propaganda piece that speaks only in generalities as Glenn Close lazily narrates Humanity's rise and the industrialization of Earth. The soundtrack is obnoxious and distracting. Glenn Close (who is the American version's narrator) has no emotion or passion and slowly lulls you to sleep. By the end of the movie, they introduce slides of facts becuse I guess they only had Close for a couple of hours and ran out of time? There are plenty of documentaries that have even stronger environmental messages, but have a better narrator, beautiful visuals, and heart. Home feels like it was made by a computer that is powered by CNN and the Earth Liberation Front. It's so unbelievably boring and it really wants you to think it has something important to say, but refuses to talk straight. Towards the last half hour, they add in an immigration spin (because that's just what Hollywood does now?) that makes no sense. There are hundreds of pro-environment documentaries out there that can get a message across without feeling like it's preaching from a soapbox, but Home revels in its arrogance. 90 minutes of "America bad (India does bad stuff too, but America is the most bad)! Man in Bangladesh is nice man! Be nice man! Did we mention America bad? Poor African country has a school. African school is good! American school is bad because America uses oil!" There is a strong difference between emotional manipulation (Which can work. See any Humane Society advert for reference) and shaming (which more likely serves to piss off your audience). There is also a huge level of hypocrisy to this documentary when you find out that it was financed by the PR wing of Kering, a French company that specializes in luxury goods and owns brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Brioni and Pomellato. A documentary that rails against the extravagances of an industrial world made by one of the most well known creators of superfluous things such as $3000 hand bags and pre-ripped jeans feels more than a little inauthentic. If Bill Gates wants to yell at me that me using plastic bags at the grocery store, at least he's not using plastic bags himself. Kering making a $12,000,000 propaganda piece to distract us from it's entire business of selling extravagance is laughable at best. I can appreciate documentaries even if I'm not 100% in agreement with their message, but those docs talk to me, not at me. I'd recommend re-watching any one of the BBC's nature documentaries over this garbage.
