11th HOUR, THE

SYNOPSIS:
An urgent look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Presented by Leonardo diCaprio and comprising dozens of interviews with scientists, writers and environmentalists, the film is a reconfirmation of the urgency of global warming.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
An earnest and eager attempt to underline the Al Gore message as espoused in An Inconvenient Truth, The 11th Hour comes frustratingly close to taking the debate to the next level, namely some specific ideas for reducing our profligate waste. There are tantilising glimpses of solutions - or at least prototypes to solutions - for houses that replicate the work of trees, for example, and inventive new energy sources. But they are abandoned as quickly as they are picked up.

The film is really a series of talking heads - dozens of them - each repeating the same urgent message from a slightly different vantage point. These are often illustrated with rather simplistic pictures, and sometimes talking heads pop up who don't even talk.

We get the impression that by hammering home the theme, audiences will become better believers or converts. While this much information is way too hard to assimilate as presented, the film still has impact.