"Ice On Fire" (2019 release; 95 min.) is a documentary about what causes climate disruption (a/k/a climate change) and how it can be fixed. As the movie opens, the voice-over (narrator Leonardo DiCaprio) informs us that in the last 250 years (roughly since the Industrial Revolution), the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen dramatically, and the voice-over invites us to then listen to the impartial experts (scientists, professors, and the like) to understand the implications of this. We then go to the "Rocky Mountains" where a woman at the University of Colorado drives up a mountain in a snowmobile to a remote location to take air samples, as is done around the world, to keep track of the parts per million (PPM) of carbon dioxide (322 in 1968, now at 408). At this point we are 10 min. into the movie.
Couple of comments: this movie serves to be a basic introductory to everyone wondering what the deal is with "climate change". To the credit of director Leila Connors and the entire production team, they are staying away from politics and instead focus on "just the facts, 'mam". Hence no annoying/preachy figures like Al Gore or even Greta Thunberg, but instead we get third party experts from all over the world, testifying as to their scientific work and what it all means for you and me. "What happens in the Arctic has major implications in the rest of the world", informs one of them, and then explain how and why. At one point there is a clip that shows in about 30 seconds how much exactly the ice mass of the Arctic has reduced from 1984 to 2016, and frankly it is frightening when you see it like that. The movie's title refers to the methane emissions from thawing permafrost in the Arctic as it bubbles up in frozen lakes around the Arctic (one of the scientists pokes a hole in the lake and sets it aflame, hence "ice on fire"). But it's not all bad news, as the documentary also shows how we can reverse the ongoing climate disruption in specific and concrete and DOABLE ways.
"Ice On Fire" premiered at the 2019 Cannes film festival to immediate acclaim. I just recently caught it on HBO On Demand. The movie is quite similar to a new PBS documentary called "Polar Extremes" that just premiered on NOVAS. And there's nothing wrong with having two similar movies about this important topic. This is MILES away from the bombastic and annoying "An Inconvenient Truth". "Ice on Fire" sticks to the scientific facts and lets them speak for themselves. If you have been wondering what to commotion of climate change has been about (as I was), I'd readily encourage you to check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this movie serves to be a basic introductory to everyone wondering what the deal is with "climate change". To the credit of director Leila Connors and the entire production team, they are staying away from politics and instead focus on "just the facts, 'mam". Hence no annoying/preachy figures like Al Gore or even Greta Thunberg, but instead we get third party experts from all over the world, testifying as to their scientific work and what it all means for you and me. "What happens in the Arctic has major implications in the rest of the world", informs one of them, and then explain how and why. At one point there is a clip that shows in about 30 seconds how much exactly the ice mass of the Arctic has reduced from 1984 to 2016, and frankly it is frightening when you see it like that. The movie's title refers to the methane emissions from thawing permafrost in the Arctic as it bubbles up in frozen lakes around the Arctic (one of the scientists pokes a hole in the lake and sets it aflame, hence "ice on fire"). But it's not all bad news, as the documentary also shows how we can reverse the ongoing climate disruption in specific and concrete and DOABLE ways.
"Ice On Fire" premiered at the 2019 Cannes film festival to immediate acclaim. I just recently caught it on HBO On Demand. The movie is quite similar to a new PBS documentary called "Polar Extremes" that just premiered on NOVAS. And there's nothing wrong with having two similar movies about this important topic. This is MILES away from the bombastic and annoying "An Inconvenient Truth". "Ice on Fire" sticks to the scientific facts and lets them speak for themselves. If you have been wondering what to commotion of climate change has been about (as I was), I'd readily encourage you to check this out, and draw your own conclusion.