Even Leonardo DiCaprio fails to salvage<I> The 11th Hour</i>.
Herald rating: * * *
An earnest and well-intentioned bore, this project, co-produced and fronted by Leonardo DiCaprio, purports to distinguish itself from the Al Gore roadshow An Inconvenient Truth by being more than just a doom-laden recitation of the facts about climate change.
Advance publicity promises
a call to arms with hard advice about what "we can do to make a difference".
In the event, though, it offers nothing that the film's target audience will not be doing already.
Touching on the role our hysterical consumerism plays in fossil fuel consumption ("You can never get enough of what you don't really want," says one talking head), the film begins to finger global corporate capitalism as the underlying force against any meaningful change in the way we live on the planet.
It's hardly an innovative point but no sooner is it mentioned than the film shies away from it. Gore never attempted a political analysis, but this film might have been expected to adopt an angrier tone. It's tempting to wonder whether Time Warner, the parent of its production company, exerted any editorial influence.
There is no shortage of factoids and some genuinely interesting interviewees, but the dizzying editing style is tiresome and the uplifting ending makes it feel far more anodyne than energising.
This close to midnight, buying compact fluorescent light bulbs isn't enough.
Directors: Leila Conners Petersen, Nadia Conners
Running time: 95 minutes
Rating: PG
Screening: Rialto, SkyCity Cinemas
Verdict: Well-intentioned save-the-planet doco is dense with factoids but ultimately something of a bore.
