top of page
Search

The Climate is Reel: Films that Change How We See Our Home

Cinema is an art that speaks on screen with stunning visuals and strong messages, sometimes hidden but louder than you might imagine. Cinema plays an important role in shaping perspectives by using the big screen to talk about politics, biographies, history, and sometimes climate change. While climate change has threatened us since the late 1800s, people only started talking about it widely in the 21st century through documentaries, short films, and movies. Documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth (2006) [1], written by politician and environmentalist Al Gore, caused widespread discussion and also helped him win two Academy Awards in the process. The documentary called for immediate action and became a pivotal film in raising awareness about climate change. This was later followed by movies like The Day After Tomorrow [2] and Pixar’s animated film Wall-E [3], [4]. But did you know this wasn’t the beginning of climate change representation in cinema? It all started with the movie The Unchained Goddess from 1958, an animated film directed by Richard Carlson and William T. Hertz [5].


designed by Mahima
designed by Mahima

Today, let’s talk about similar movies from around the world that have raised the issue of climate change and told the stories of those who have suffered most from it. I will put links to movies and references for you all to explore, along with a few suggestions for you to watch and share your perspectives in the comments or by tagging the GIC Instagram page on your stories.


The very first movie on my list is The Story of Plastic (2019) [6]. This documentary reveals the ugly truth behind plastic pollution and the false solutions of plastic recycling. It talks about the timeline of how we reached our current crisis and how the oil and gas industry has manipulated the narrative around it. The movie is produced by Pale Blue Dot Media and is associated with React To Films. The film is directed by Deia Schlosberg and written by Tony Hale and Brian Wilson.


Ice on Fire (2019) gives you many ways to reduce carbon input into the atmosphere and, more importantly, how to draw carbon down, reducing CO₂ levels in the atmosphere and helping with global temperature reduction. The documentary, which explores the potential extinction-level event caused by Arctic methane release, is narrated by legendary actor Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Leila Conners [7].


The Antarctic Challenge (2009) [8] explores the effects of climate change on Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem, with expert insight into glacier melt and its potential global consequences. Directed and written by Mark Terry, the movie shows the climate change crisis. It also holds interviews with polar experts and research scientists from around the world, as well as rare footage of wildlife, including our beloved penguins during their hatching seasons.

Switch (2012) [9], a documentary film directed by Harry Lynch and produced and distributed by Arcos Films, is part of a larger energy education and efficiency project. The film is based on scientific exploration of the energy transition from traditional sources like coal and oil to future energy alternatives.


The Last Forest (2021), directed by filmmaker Luiz Bolognesi, tells the story of the Yanomami people who inhabit territory at the border of the Brazilian and Venezuelan forests. It presents a dense soundscape and Yanomami community life alongside the threatened environment of the Amazon forest [10].


While the West has dominated the global discourse, India—facing some of the world’s most severe ecological challenges while balancing rapid development—has also produced some amazing films with a unique blend of storytelling to express suffering and solutions. Movies like The Elephant Whisperers (2022), directed by Kartiki Gonsalves, have won Oscars for their wonderful representation of the relationship between the human and animal worlds [11]. From high mountain ranges to forests, India has many hidden gems, including The Shepherdess of the Glaciers (2016), a documentary directed by Stanzin Dorjai Gya and Christiane Mordelet. The film takes you to the Himalayan high plateaus, far from human life, where Tsering, a shepherdess who has devoted her life to cattle, shares life in the mountains [12].


These are just a few examples where cinematography has met challenge and shown the world how much our lives depend on our surroundings. I will now list a few more movies from my watch list for you to explore:


  1. All That Breathes (2022, HBO Max) 

    Why: Urban ecology made poetic and profound


  2. Dark Waters (2019)

    Why: Talks about the lawsuit against a chemical company that exposed a lengthy history of pollution


  3. Before the Flood (2016)

    Why: Talks about rising sea levels


  4. 2040 (2019) 

    Why: Talks about solutions to tackle climate change


  5. The Human Element (2019)

    Why: Shows how the four elements—air, water, land, and fire—are affected by the fifth element: human activities


Whether you’re looking for a Friday night documentary, educational material for your classroom, or inspiration for lifestyle changes, environmental cinema offers a powerful perspective on our relationship with the planet. Start with one film a week and let us know what surprised you the most.


“We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” — Native American Proverb



References 


 
 
bottom of page