I’m not gonna lie, I love watching films.
Films are today’s great art.
And/or elusion, depends.
I will critique a book, but not a film– too insecure.
At the Ateneo University, Film was taught by a meta-Jesuit, the formidable Father Nick Cruz.
Once, we were passing out Kleenex in the dark theatre, grieving as Dustin Hoffman battled Meryl Streep for the custody of their son in Kramer Vs. Kramer. Another time, Father Nick decided to educate us with the infamous boso (voyeurism) scene from Peque Gallaga’s 1985 totally NSFW Scorpio Nights.
And of course, nobody missed the critically acclaimed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I was so pretentious with my so-called exegesis of the art (cue Father Nick’s internal eye roll). Birds. Rebellion. Communism. Religion. When all I really wanted to harp about was Jack Nicholson’s innocence-shattering guffaw. And sex appeal. So there.
Present day: And so I’m thrilled to have discovered an obra like THIN ICE.
THIN ICE premiered in Manila during Earth Hour but I was working, doing a series of interviews, and I missed it.
To catch up, I downloaded the film from the THIN ICE website.
It’s difficult enough to make people excited about the environment. How much more if it’s hard core science like Climate Change?
That’s why I have to hand it to Simon Lamb who is a scientist himself (geologist) and in his own words, “also a keen amateur cameraman” for taking us on this spectacular adventure into Climate Change.
It took me to the ends of the earth, and underneath it. Simon Lamb, meek man of knowledge, suddenly found himself on board a US airforce E17 Globemaster hovering over the GIANT.WHITE.COLD.MASS that is… ANTARCTICA.
[Insert: really thrilling adventure music]
Simon Lamb’s mission was to document the works of scientists in Antarctica on Climate Change.
Biologists. Paleoclimatologists. Chemists. Atmospheric physicists. Who knew that a bunch of science people on film can make you grab a popcorn and diet coke, sit back, relax and stay glued to the screen?
There’s something about ice in this massive scale that always intrigues us, I think. The mystery and uncertainty of it all.
Ice, it turns out, is not just frozen water, it’s frozen history. Climate history.
Already action-packed were the drilling of ice cores to be used as samples in the experiments.
The chemistry of these ice cores tells us the earth’s climate from the last 1000 years.
There has been significant WARMING in Antarctica.
Disappearing sea ice.
THIN ICE.
Dwindling of the penguin population.
Western Antarctic ice sheet set to collapse.
Sea levels rise in other parts of the world.
Flooding.
More flooding.
Some places will sink and disappear. Like Greenland.
Caused by Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere? You bet.
Carbon Dioxide comes from…human activities. That’s us.
Yikes!
P.S. In 2012, adventurer/photographer James Balog premiered his Climate Change adventure movie, Chasing Ice. I guess we all have watched Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Who knew CNN anchor Anderson Cooper did Planet in Peril? Well, it’s on DVD and also has Jeff Corwin in it. Activist, actor Leonardo DiCaprio produced/hosted 11th Hour. I will probably leave the DVDs at the News Room so those of you who are interested can borrow, no charge,as long as you return them ehehe. Who knows, someday soon, we can have a Climate Change Action Adventure Movie marathon. Diet cokes on me. Cheers!