Category Archives: DVDs

In Transition 2.0

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In_Transition_20“In Transition 2.0″ is a film by Emma Goude released in 2012. It runs for about an hour and seven minutes and features 16 “inspiring” stories of Transition from 7 countries. When I watched this movie I felt it was telling me more about myself than the Transition Movement. That isn’t to say that it isn’t a good movie, it is. It is head and shoulders above “In Transition 1.0″. Gone is the awful soundtrack. Now we have some neat animations. So what if some of the bad camerawork is still there? It is all good… But did I REALLY feel inspired? Yes, I did, sometimes. But this is the wrong question. The right question is: who is this movie aimed at?

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Growthbusters – Hooked on Growth

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“Growthbusters – Hooked on Growth” is a 90 minute documentary film made in 2011 with the help on non-profit organisation Citizen-Powered Media. It is certainly very citizen-powered being largely produced, written and directed by campaigner Dave Gardner. He also appears in most of the film and narrates it. It is largely his story. He is quite a find: media-friendly and passionate about his subject. The movie’s strength is in its strong central narrative and use of humour. It is highly watchable, playful, fun and not at all grim. If it has one weakness it is its pre-occupation with busting growth without delivering a strong enough message about what will replace growth.

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The Crisis of Civilisation

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“The Crisis of Civilization” is the documentary feature film (77 minutes – a film by Dean Puckett, animations by Lucca Benney, cinematography by Suresh Kara) version of Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed’s 2010 book “The User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization and how to save it” (Pluto Press ISBN 978-0-7453-3053-2). Nafeez himself is the central character as it is based around interview with him only. No others are featured. So, does it work? Actually it does the business quite well. Anyone who couldn’t be bothered to read his book would be well off sitting down to watch this. Ahmed’s central thesis has grown significantly his book “The War On Truth” came out in 2005. Continue reading →

Crude – The Real Price of Oil

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Crude – the real price of oil” by Joe Berlinger is a 105 minute documentary from 2009 covering a couple of years in the monolithic court case between the Cofán people and Texaco (today Chevron). The movie is bought to you by a man who’s track record seems to be in rock-band documentaries. The Cofán are indigenous to a rainforest area of Ecuador where Texaco setup shop in the 1960′s to extract oil. According to the local’s case the oil company dumped more oil and toxic sludge in the jungle than was ever spilt by the Exxon-Valdez. There are over one thousand poisonous waste ponds in the jungle that are not sealed. Continue reading →