David Attenborough

  • David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, December 2020) If read about public speaking, you will inevitably run into the axiom that emotion trumps logic in convincing audiences. But there’s something that trumps even the most emotional speakers, and that’s authority. You will inevitably pay more attention to someone with solid credentials (especially if you’re already familiar with them) than J. Random Individual. (So, what are you doing getting movie reviews from me?) Accordingly, when none other than nature-documentary authority David Attenborough himself decides to headline a documentary feature outlining the environmental degradation that he has witnessed over his very long career, he’s got immediate credibility. Fortunately, he’s also able to supplement this authority with emotion and, yes, some cold facts and logic as well. The story he’s telling in A Life on Our Planet is now new and it’s not comforting. It’s an overview of how, in Attenborough’s 90+ years of life, the Earth has become increasingly more crowded, hotter, polluted, and less hospitable to wildlife. The impacts of human-driven global warming may be irreversible, upsetting the delicate balance that has fostered human civilization. For much of its duration, it’s a justified tale of gloom and degradation, as Attenborough tells us that what he saw back in the 1960s as a working documentarian simply does not exist any more. There’s an uplifting fillip at the very end of the film, but it’s not enough to take away from the remarkably glum assessment of the film and its exhortation to take action now in order to save ourselves and future generations from the worst of it. Attenborough makes a genial companion to dark predictions: he speaks plainly, can show his own historical archive footage and doesn’t have much to lose in convincing audiences. After all, he could be spending his nineties in retirement — and he’s not going to be the one suffering much longer from the ongoing ecological collapse. When speaking about elders and their advice, A Life on Our Planet does seem like an exemplary showcase: it’s clearly from personal experience, and it manages to reach audiences in a slightly different way than many other similar documentaries. Few people have as much authority on the topic as Attenborough, and it’s an eloquent legacy to pass on his own experience to younger generations.

  • The Human Factor (1979)

    The Human Factor (1979)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2020) Maybe you want to watch director Otto Preminger’s last film. Maybe you’re interested in a quasi-domestic British film about the mundanity of espionage. Maybe you want to gawk as a young Iman (and who wouldn’t?) In any case, your path has led you to The Human Factor. It starts on a surprisingly dull note, with subtle British spycraft jargon, side glances, cryptic language, elliptical dialogue and a dark outlook on national betrayal—everything is beige and boring even during the colourful strip club sequence in which Preminger gets to show nudity after spending so many films wishing he could. It all feels like substandard Le Carré, his cerebral style being unusually susceptible to bad adaptations. At least there’s Iman: She looks terrific, of course, and while she’s not a gifted actress, this is probably the best performance she’s ever given. The Human Factor, as it develops and improves, belongs to the subtle low-key school of murky British counterespionage, which may not be to everyone’s taste—certainly, when compared to much better examples of the form, this one feels lifeless and far too long for its own good despite being adapted by Tom Stoppard from a Graham Greene novel. Non-Iman actors are quite good, though, what with David Attenborough, Nicol Williamson and Derek Jacobi. The third act gets slightly better as it heads to Africa via flashbacks, to tackle issues of apartheid and interracial relationships in a more vital fashion. After idling for most of its duration, The Human Factor eventually, finally, builds up to a decent conclusion. It’s a bit too late, you’ll say, and I’ll agree—Some serious retooling would be required to make this a more interesting film, but Preminger did not succeed with this one.