The scariest horror film you absolutely should watch and show your children… 5 stars and an Oscar, BAFTA and anything else going… in my opinion.
I am just back from my first cinema trip for a very long time, despite all the face mask wearing, social distancing and array of arrows on the floor to follow all seemingly leading me in a crazy circle it was well worth it.
This is not just any film this is a call to action from a man who has first hand seen the changes that have happened during the course of his lifetime. Sir David Attenborough is calling this his witness statement, as for the first time reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen. ( you will need tissues)
The film starts in Chernobyl ,the one place on earth that its’ easy for us to relate to in terms of the devastation to nature caused at the hands of humans. David equates this with what he has witnessed, a serious decline in the living world over his lifetime. He has seen the rainforests retreating and the grasslands emptying and has searched ever harder for species hanging on in hidden corners of the world. He warns that he has observed a downward trend that is set to cause a disaster far more profound and with more lasting impacts than the desolation of Chernobyl.
We can all remember the Chernobyl catastrophe but cleverly David finishes the film there too, showing how nature has returned and the Forrest has taken over the town, rare breeds of animals wander the forgotten streets and trees have grown around the abandoned buildings. A powerful message to us that all hope is not lost, nature has an amazing ability to heal if given the chance and that if we all make changes, we have the power to save life on our planet. Sir David states that returning Biodiversity to the planet is what is needed and explains what that means, ‘we need to learn to work with nature not against it” in a phrase that helps simplify the understanding of the work that needs to be done, we are told we need to ‘rewild’ the world which seems a great way of explaining things.
The film as you would expect is a visual sensation, a montage of footage from Davids career, and some very upsetting clips of some of the changes we are already seeing in the world. I can’t urge you enough that not seeing this film is not really an option. Your future self is relying on you to do so.
Most shockingly at the end of the film Sir David as he nears the end of his own life, offers his predictions for the next 95 years and this part is truly terrifying. The Amazon rainforest completely destroyed. Catastrophic species loss. An ice-free arctic. Crashing fish populations. A global food crisis. An almost uninhabitable planet. “A series of one-way doors,” he sighs, “bringing irreversible change”. In my life time even if we act now I will not be alive to see the coral that has been bleached return to life and its former beautiful state, Im not ashamed to say at that point I cried… again. We have to make changes fast and bring more hope than this for future generations.
On a personal level, it has left me feeling even more passionate about educating the next generation on nature, sustainable living and how to be a Warrior on Waste. The beginning of the film sees Sir David talk about his childhood and how he spent so much time outside playing and learning. I have always questioned how we can expect children to care about the planet if we don’t let them experience it and learn to love it. Playing on a device in a bedroom will never give them the connection with nature, it is our duty to get them outside and to learn to be caretakers of the planet to reconnect.
I didn’t really need a call to action but maybe I needed a nudge to help me identify where more of my energy needs to be spent. I have spent the last few years doing lots of work on peoples homes with my interiors and styling work but I realise that I need to focus my skills on not just peoples homes but on this planet we call home because it needs the biggest restyle of all. I will continue with some interiors work but I see my future helping people live in their homes in a more sustainable way, educating and helping them make sustainable choices that will allow this planet we call home to heal. No point having fancy wallpaper if forest fires are raging outside your window!
At the end of the movie, they showed an interview between Sir David Attenborough and Sir Michael Palin (this will only be available in cinemas) and one of the key messages Sir David gave was we need to stop WASTE. Less food waste, less fuel waste, less waste of the earth’s resources.
When I started www.warriorsonwaste.co.uk I wanted to show children how to upcycle things they would normally bin, over the last few years it has grown to much more and over the next few months its needs to focus on helping you, even more. The situation is urgent and we have work to do. Sir David powerfully outlines those things and I won’t spoil it for you or steal his thunder!!! I will give you a chance to watch the film but Warriors on Waste will be a platform that continues to inspire change and pass on some of Sir Davids messages.
“I certainly would feel very guilty if I saw what the problems are and decided to ignore them,” says Attenborough, Ditto Sir David, Ditto .
The film will be on Netflix as of the 4th of October if you miss it in the cinema
Details of the film.
Directors: Alastair Fothergill, Jonathan Hughes and Keith Scholey
Starring: David Attenborough
Released: October 28 (in selected cinemas, and from October 4 on Netflix)
Enjoy and let me know your thoughts.
Lynne xxx