Enviro-Rewind: 5 Great Environment Movies That Are Worth Your Time
We all know the “go-to” environment movies by now: Don’t Look Up. An Inconvenient Truth. Wall-E. But what about those undiscovered climate flicks? We’ve rustled up five enviro gems with five very different heroes.
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2 years ago
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1. Honeyland (2019, 89 min)
Here’s the only time we’d call “sustainability” a buzzword : )
This startling Sundance award-winner (along with 35 other international prizes) follows Hatidze, one of the last European wild beekeepers, who literally risks her life to harvest wild honey using wholly sustainable methods. Don’t believe us? Here’s Hatidze clinging to the side of a cliff to reach the beehives no-one else dares to. She’s like the Tom Cruise of Macedonian honey harvesting.
As if that’s not dramatic enough, a brash family of nomadic beekeepers invade Hatidze’s land, decimating the natural bee balance and upending her very livelihood. Hatidze stays true to her roots, though, refusing to exploit the bees’ natural environment. In case you’d forgotten, these fuzzy little warriors are vital for our existence: they pollinate most of the plants that grow over 90% of the world’s food!
“This is the kind of cinema cinephiles wait years for, patiently. An absolute must see.” ~ 48 Hills
Like its stripey little subjects, Honeyland is a sweet story with a sting - it underlines the importance of ethical consumption, biodiversity, and finding sustainable ways to live off the land. Or as Hatidze says to her bee-autiful buddies, “one half for me, one half for you.”
2. Dark Waters (2019, 127 min)
Ever wondered what environmental lawyers actually do? Dark Waters reveals the power that lies in environmental law reform, and - no! Wait!! Don’t lapse into a coma!
Watch corporate attorney Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) take on chemical mega-company DuPont, exposing their long and wilfully negligent history of pollution: tainting thousands of West Virginians’ water supply with hundreds of tons of dangerous acids.
The most horrifying part is it’s all true. The film is based on the 2016 New York Times article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare," which explained how Bilott - who actually began his career defending large chemical companies - came to fight a decades-long legal siege against one of America’s most powerful corporations. No spoilers, but let’s just say it’s one of those “risk it all to expose the truth” stories that’ll make you want to stand and applaud.
3. Okja (2017, 122 min)
Weren’t expecting a genetically engineered superpig movie to pop up on this list? Girl, same. But we simply had to include this loveably odd South Korean tale with a strong message of conservation and consumption beating at its heart.
Our plucky hero Mija is determined to fight back when her best mate Okja (the, uh, superpig we mentioned) is snatched by unethically dodgy bastards, the Mirando Corporation. Their aim? Genetically breeding more giant animals for cheap & plentiful meat (hey, we’re all for reducing our dependence on cattle farming, but YIKES!)
Sidenote: there’s a growing trend for plant-based diets and reducing meat consumption in Australia, and it’s badly needed. According to the ABS, the average Aussie chowed down on over 90 kilos of meat in 2020, and that ain’t great news for our climate. All that meat has to come from somewhere, and the livestock that gave up their… well, their lives are responsible for around 10% of Australia’s TOTAL greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Back to Okja, and all up, the Netflix original is a thrilling & unique combo: a kidnap & rescue movie, a corporate greed story, and a stirring tale of animal rights. But the caring Mija’s our touchpoint, reminding us what really matters — nature, family and the joy that comes from connecting with both.
4. Take Shelter (2011, 120 min)
Like a gathering storm, Take Shelter is a little darker than the other movies here, but with a tantalising premise. Just admire this synopsis: “Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.”
Attention grabber! Michael Shannon is superb as a man who isn’t sure if he’s been given a strange gift of apocalyptic foresight, or if he’s in the grips of paranoid schizophrenia. Either way, he becomes obsessed with his family taking shelter for their own protection.
Sure, it’s dramatic, but as a poignant metaphor for our relationship with our globe and our collective fear that our environment could turn against us, Take Shelter really hits you like a lightning bolt.
5. I Am Greta (2020, 97 min)
Gen Z are a pretty aware crew. But while most teens would probably chalk up “activism” as posting a black square on Instagram, Swedish student Greta Thunberg had bigger plans in mind back in 2018: “If adults don’t care about my future on earth, why should I care about my future in school?”
The question was so good that at age 15, Greta promptly bailed from school entirely, kicking off a “Skolstrejk” (that’s “school strike” to you & me) that became a global movement. The team behind I Am Greta followed the young activist from Day One as she went on to speak at the UN and become a world-famous activist.
This motivating doco covers Greta’s inspiring crusade to get people to do something - anything - about the world's climate crisis. It’s clear that GT doesn’t let anything stop her: turning her Asperger's syndrome and her young age into a super-power for good. We can make all the excuses we want as to why we can’t, but I Am Greta shines a million-watt spotlight on why we all can.
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