Fight Climate Change

Following in the footsteps of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Leonardo DiCaprio has launched his own documentary film about climate change at The Cannes Film Festival. The 11th Hour is written, produced and narrated by DiCaprio and contains interviews with “71 people to create a narrative about the state of the world and how human beings impact our only home, planet earth”.

According to the movie synopsis from Warner Bros: “The 11th Hour” is the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how we’ve arrived at this moment — how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolsey and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who discuss the most important issues that face our planet and people.

The film is not due for release until later this year, but details can be found at the official site. You can find reviews and comment about The 11th Hour, following it’s showing at Cannes, at a number of sites but the best are Variety, LA Times and The Guardian. DiCaprio has come under fire for the movie, but he claims he’s playing his part in fighting climate change and the movie is from the viewpoint of an ordinary citizen. He has also announced he no longer takes private jets and has installed solar panels at his home.

Whether DiCaprio can deliver his message and how much impact the movie will have remains to be seen. If The 11th Hour, as the reports suggest, paints a realistic and bleak picture of how things are, will the public be up for paying to see something that may leave them down and depressed about the state of the climate, especially if The Simpsons Movie is playing on the screen next door?