Movies Reviews

Force of Nature – Movie Review

By Ron Wilkinson Dec 8, 2011, 14:57 GMT

Documentary portrait of environmentalist David Suzuki. ...more

Too much to say, and too little time to say it, David Suzuki cheers for the global environment.

Internationally reknowned author, lecturer and teacher Dr. David Suzuki has made many films. This one is his “Legacy Lecture,” the lesson that summarized his 75 years of experiences from the WW II internment camps, through his growing up, surrounded by nature, and his final years developing his most important message. That message is that the earth is the only home we have therefore we should respect it.

Suzuki hosts the CBC-TV series “The Nature of Things” that has run for some 51 seasons and, like the host, is still going strong. His past CBC radio milestones include “Quirks and Quarks” in mid to late 1970’s, “A Matter of Survival” in 1989, “From Naked Ape to Superspecies” and, recently, the series “The Bottomline.” Graduating from Amhurst and University of Chicago, Suzuki has written some 150 books and publications and is considered the leading genetic scientist in Canada. Over the past half century, especially, he has devoted his time to explaining the interconnectedness of human society and the natural global environment.

This film is a lecture that examines Japanese – North American relations through the microscope of his personal experience. It also examines homo sapiens' future relationship with the flora and fauna that make up our environment (Suzuki is not completely sure we will make it). He started out life as a prisoner of the joint US - Canadian Japanese internment programs of WWII. Surely, one of the most illegal, unsavory and morally bankrupt human relocation programs in the history of either country. Internment left him an alienated young man, fleeing to the countryside to escape persecution.

His parents are Japanese, but having lived in Canada their entire lives, neither spoke Japanese nor taught David to speak it. Therefore, he was declared an enemy by the white population and rejected as too “white” by the Japanese population. Capitalizing on his genius intelligence, and plenty of spare time, he devoted himself to the natural sciences.

The interconnectedness of human society and the environment is as strong, or stronger, than the interconnectedness of the individual nations and societies therein. Although he is loved by thousands of his past students and peers, he cannot help but convey a strong undertow of impending doom beneath the rising tide of environmental consciousness.

Any attempt to encapsulate such a life in a documentary is bound to fail. The scope of the material is too much. Even so, Suzuki is able to demonstrate, elegantly and accurately, the crisis that the human population is presenting to the natural environment. Simply stated, no force on earth has wrought such change on the global environment as have we people. This would not be so bad, if it were not so obvious that the vast majority do not have a clue what we are doing. A self-described “fruit fly pusher,” David is adept at using simple numerical relationships to make his point.

Suzuki is highly politicized and it is impossible to separate his feelings about civil rights and social justice from his scientific message. Those who love him would not have it any other way. He is honest to the point of downright bluntness. The one thing that is assured in any Suzuki lecture is that he will not hold back for fear of offending.

Therein lays both the strengths and weaknesses of “Force of Nature.” It is a masterful dissection of possibly lethal trends facing our environment. It is also an unabashed polemic summarizing Suzuki’s politics, with little or no time given to opposing viewpoints. This is somewhat justified, considering there is not one tenth of the time in the film needed to articulate his opinions, let alone for equal time for opposing viewpoints.

The problem is one of the world’s greatest living natural scientists spends most of his time preaching to the choir.

Director Sturla Gunnarsson ("Beowulf and Grendel", "Air India 182", "Such a long Journey") has put together an A-List of David’s peers and commentators for this film, including Dr. Tara Cullis, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Miles Richardson. However, at the end of movie most of those unfamiliar with Suzuki may walk out of the theatre saying “So What?” The best that can be hoped is that this snippet of an encyclopedic body of work will inspire some watchers to dig a little deeper.

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Documentary
Directed by: Sturla Gunnarsson
Featuring: Tara Cullis, Severn Cullis-Suzuki and Ann-Marie MacDonald 
Release Date: December 2, 2011
MPAA: Not Rated
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Country: Canada
Language: English / Japanese
Color: Color