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Nature reflects our nature
FILMS101: A Watchlist for Budding Environmentalists
Have you ever been so awestruck by a movie that you kept on reading its reviews after midnight? How often
do you get a film that you go on telling about to your buddies? And how about film(s) on environmental issues
that got you thinking???
Good movies like good books and good people go on a long way to define our lives. Good movies hold the
power to stir our conscience, to inspire change. Some movies find a way to our soul and leave a lasting im-
print on our being.
I have compiled a selection of films on environmental issues that I thought is worth sharing with our gener-
ation of environmentalists (not just environmental science students). There is no particular order of critical
acclaim or popularity which to follow. Just look up IMDB before you watch these movies, and explore further
on so many other great films that are not mentioned in this loose list.
Who knows a film one day will help you find your purpose in life?
Wall-E (2008)
(Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi )
Director: Andrew Stanton
You can’t help falling in love with the solitary trash-picking robot Wall-E who is on
a mission to clean up a post-apocalyptic planet Earth deserted by the humans.
Themes: consumerism, corporatism, waste management, human environmen-
tal impact, obesity, global catastrophic risk and nostalgia.
Further watching: Finding Nemo (2003), an animation film by Stanton
Racing Extinction (2015)
(Documentary, Adventure, Drama)
Director: Louie Psihoyos
The heartrending depiction that human greed and apathy is pushing earth’s
biodiversity to the ‘sixth mass extinction’ and how a small group of people –
scientists, activists and journalists are showing the rays of hope for the future
of the planet. Watch people like Elon Musk and Nat Geo photographer Joel
Sartore (The Photo Ark project) at their work for the planet.
*Screened by NSCS during World Environment Day 2016 at CV Raman,
Kathmandu University.
Themes: Anthropocene, poaching and illegal wildlife trade, extinction crisis,
activism, environmental crisis
Further watching: The Cove (2009), a documentary by Psihoyos
Planet Earth: I and II (2006, 2016)
(TV Mini-series)
Narrator: David Attenborough
Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series
ever commissioned by the BBC and also the first to be filmed in high definition.
It shows the pristineness and grandeur of the Earth’s ecosystems and biodiver-
sity so successfully that the only criticism of late is that it fails to show the con-
sequences of widespread environmental crisis and human-inflicted damage to
the natural environment. The behind the scenes give an idea of the lengths the
makers went to bring alive the natural world.
Themes: Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Evolution
Further watching: Other installments of the BBC Planet Earth franchise: Blue
Planet (2001), Planet Earth: The Future (2006), Earth (2007), Frozen Planet
(2011), Blue Planet II (2017) (upcoming and in development: Perfect Planet,
One Planet: Seven Worlds, Planet Earth III, Frozen Planet II)
Nature and Social Concern Society
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