The 11th Hour (2007 film)

The 11th Hour is a 2007 documentary film on the state of the natural environment created, produced, co-written and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. It was directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners and financed by Adam Lewis and Pierre André Senizergues, and distributed by Warner Independent Pictures.

The 11th Hour
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNadia Conners
Leila Conners
Produced byLeonardo DiCaprio
Leila Conners Petersen
Chuck Castleberry
Brian Gerber
Written byNadia Conners
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leila Conners Petersen
Narrated byLeonardo DiCaprio
Music byJean-Pascal Beintus
Eric Avery
Edited byLuis Alvarez y Alvarez
Pietro Scalia
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Independent Pictures
Release date
  • May 19, 2007 (2007-05-19) (Cannes Film Festival)
  • August 17, 2007 (2007-08-17)
Running time
92 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$985,207[2]

Its world premiere was at the 2007 60th Annual Cannes Film Festival (May 16–27, 2007) and it was released on August 17, 2007, in the year in which the Fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations global warming panel IPCC was published and about a year after Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, another film documentary about global warming.

Plot

With contributions from over 50 politicians, scientists, and environmental activists, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, journalist Armand Betscher, and Paul Hawken, the film documents the grave problems facing the planet's life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans' habitats are all addressed. The film's premise is that the future of humanity is in jeopardy.

The film proposes potential solutions to these problems by calling for restorative action by the reshaping and rethinking of global human activity through technology, social responsibility and conservation.

Quotes

Global warming is not only the number 1 environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity ... We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet.

— Leonardo DiCaprio[3]

People interviewed

Environmental views

Experts interviewed underlined that everyone must become involved to reverse the destruction and climate change. The role of humans in the destruction of the environment is explained from the viewpoint of several different professional fields including environmental scientists, oceanographers, economic historians, and medical specialists. The many experts called upon in this documentary effectively demonstrated a consensus concerning human-caused climate change, and the many other impacts of industrialization such as the dramatic loss of species (biodiversity).

Reaction

In March 2008 The 11th Hour was awarded the Earthwatch Environmental Film Award at National Geographic in Washington, DC.[4]

The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, with a 68% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 87 reviews,[5] and an average score of 63% on Metacritic based on 30 reviews.[6]

Kevin Crust, a critic from the Los Angeles Times, rated the film highly:

The [film] asks why these things are happening and apportions blame in varying degrees to governmental indifference tied to its allegiance to a corporate economy that is addicted to growth at any cost and perhaps, most insinuating of all, to the culture of consumerism. Disposable has trumped sustainable in our society, and we're now paying the price. Thankfully for audiences, "11th Hour" is not without hope. The filmmakers save the most exhilarating portion for last when they ask what's being done about the problems. Experts extol existing technologies and projects as attainable solutions. Progressive designs such as a carbon-neutral city and self-sustaining buildings already offer ideas for a new direction. By mimicking nature's own blueprints, it is possible to create a system of living that heals rather than depletes the Earth.

— Kevin Crust, [7]

See also

References
  1. "The 11th Hour". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  2. "The 11th Hour". Box Office Mojo.
  3. We all have to... DiCaprio quote Archived August 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on April 12, 2007.
  4. "The 11th Hour panel @ National Geographic & Earthwatch Film Awards". Earthwatch Institute. YouTube. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  5. "The 11th Hour Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  6. "The 11th Hour Reviews, Ratings, Credits". Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  7. "The 11th Hour." Aug. 17, 2007, L.A. Times. Retrieved on September 5, 2010.
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