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Earth 2100 Blu-ray
MPI Media Group | 84 mins | Not rated | Nov 03, 2009
Earth 2100 Blu-ray Review“To change the future, first you have to imagine it.”Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, November 20, 2009 When she was fourteen, my wife was freaked out and didn't want a root canal. She tells me this while we're talking about Earth 2100, a speculative documentary on the effects of climate change, which we had just finished watching. I know, it seems like a strange aside, and you're probably wondering why I'm relaying it here. I'll let her finish: "I didn't want a root canal, but the dentist told me that I had two options. I could let the tooth rot, slowly and painfully, and eventually it would fall out, leaving a permanent gap. This was one solution. Or, I could have the root canal— which would only hurt for a few hours—and save myself from all the pain and suffering down the road. It was only after he explained the consequences that I was able to understand why I needed the root canal. And that's basically what the documentary does." What can I say? When she's right —which is, let's face it, all the time—she's right. Earth 2100 shows what could happen if we sit back and do nothing about global warming—the toothache we're trying to ignore—and then reassures us that if we just put in a little effort now, while we're still able, we can save ourselves from a lot of potential hardships in the future.
Originally aired by the ABC television network on June 2, 2009, Earth 2100 is a far cry from your average timely but inevitably predictable nightly news special. Meaning, there's no perfectly coiffed anchorperson asking "probing" and "insightful" questions in a head-to-head interview that ends in tears. The program envisions what might happen to life on Earth throughout the 21st century if we act too late in addressing human involvement in climate change. Instead of simply featuring one expert testimonial after another, interspersed with stock footage and, I dunno, pie charts and bar graphs, Earth 2100 takes a novel approach. Specifically, a graphic novel approach. In between talking head segments with a bevy of cerebral superstars—including scientists, professors, and think tank thinkers—the documentary weaves a fictional narrative told in the now-popular "motion comic" aesthetic. Think Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic. Whether this is to cast the problem of global warming in a new light or just to appeal to a younger audience, it's an effective choice. The limited motion animation is fantastic, with lots of great depth effects and an edgy visual style. The story follows the life of Lucy, who has the unfortunate fate of being born in 2009, when the world is not nearly as concerned as it should be about global warming. Civilization is at the proverbial crossroads, and by failing to enact any new policies at a 2015 global summit on climate change, we collectively take the path of least initial resistance. The effects are subtle at first. Young Lucy remembers the summer of the dragonflies, when a species native to Cuba began migrating north to her home in Miami. Soon, gas prices reach $5.45 and shortages are rampant. By 2030, when Lucy gets married, there are 8 billion people on Earth, two thirds of them without a stable supply of fresh water. In 2050, the planet's now 9 billion inhabitants are fighting over resources that are increasingly scarcer. A flu pandemic sweeps the globe. Golf courses turn to dust. Land pirates stalk America's interior highways. It's not Mad Max, not quite yet. Lucy's husband Josh gets a job as an engineer on The Great Barrier Project, an unsuccessful attempt to protect New York City from rising tides. Meanwhile, melting ice caps release vast quantities of trapped methane, which only expedite the global temperature hike. Essential services and utilities are shut down in 2084. The world's population has collapsed under its own weight and America has splintered into a million shards. Cities are now walled fortresses with enclaves for the rich. The central government has failed. "Hell," as one scientist puts it, "is truth realized too late." Obviously, there's a fair share of fear-mongering here, a lot of bleak speculation. Earth 2100 is like a Scared Straight video for gas-guzzlers and the environmentally unconscious. While the end of the program does address some potential solutions—both for individuals and global policy makers—the bulk of the documentary is devoted to the consequences of our current apathy. This is doubtlessly important, but it's always depressing to realize that there are great swathes of the population who dismiss the idea of human impact on global warming as a bunch of liberal scientific hokum specifically generated to hoodwink the government into placing restrictions on free-market capitalism. Even if that were true, who wouldn't be in favor of placing caps on emissions and generally insuring that our planet has air that's at least healthier to breathe? I mean, besides big business. I've never understood the arguments of the opposition. Earth 2100 may seem melodramatic, but it just wants to impress that we are at a crossroads, where we can choose to hold on to the status quo— burning and drilling our way to oblivion—or, we can embrace new technological innovations and try to make the world a cleaner, more verdant and bountiful place for everyone to live. One talking head sums it up with grim precision: "One of our political leaders said not too long ago that the American way of life is non-negotiable. We're going to discover the hard way that when you don't negotiate the circumstances that are sent to you by the universe, you automatically get assigned a new negotiating partner named reality, and then it will negotiate for you. You don't even have to be in the room." Video  While the actual Earth may look bleak at the beginning of the next century—let's hope not— Earth 2100 looks excellent, with a 1080i/AVC-encoded presentation that's clean and colorful. The talking head interviews are filmed on high definition video, and they appear fairly sharp, with strong facial detail and bright, realistic colors. Skin tones can look a bit ruddy, but hey, some people actually are ruddy. The real highlight here is the fantastic "motion comic" animation. The artwork is frequently arresting—so much so that I currently have one of the screencaps set as my laptop wallpaper—and it's superbly reproduced on Blu-ray with bold watercolor splashes overlapped with detailed line drawings. It's a very vivid and stylized look, and it works perfectly in conjunction with the storytelling. And though some of the lines in the animation are very fine, I didn't notice any overt aliasing or stair-stepping. Blacks are appropriately inky and there's a great sense of contrast, depth, and color separation. The program also uses footage from a variety of sources—clearly, not all of them high definition—and so the quality here really varies. As such, you will notice some of the usual up-convert culprits—ringing, aliasing, etc.—but there's nothing truly distracting here. For a documentary commissioned by a nightly news program, I was really impressed by the aesthetic and production level of Earth 2100. Audio  While I always experience a slight twinge of disappointment when a film or TV program arrives on Blu-ray with a lossy audio track, the truth is, Earth 2100's Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes are more than adequate considering the nature of the production. First and foremost, all of the dialogue—from the talking head interviews to Lucy's narration and journalist Bob Woodruff's interludes—is clear, prioritized, and easily understandable. The message comes through, so to speak. The rest of the audio is subtle, but occasionally surprising and even impressive. During the motion comic sequences the rear channels are frequently occupied with ambient noises and impressionistic flourishes. All of this plays second fiddle to the narration, but if you actively listen you'll pick up on some moody sound design. The music sometimes reminded me of John Murphy's haunting, appropriately post-apocalyptic score for 28 Days Later, and though it's rather low in the mix, it's panned nicely into the surround speakers and sounds full and detailed, all things considered. The 2.0 mix is also nicely balanced, for those that don't have a surround set-up. Supplements  While I would've appreciated a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Earth 2100's artwork, there are no supplementary features included on this disc. Final words Earth 2100 follows in the vein of similar global warming warnings, like In Inconvenient Truth, Home, and even The World Without Us, but it humanizes the often vague and impersonal sounding threats—I mean, who gasps aloud at the mere thought of 3 feet of rising tides—by giving us a fictional pair of eyes through which we can see the consequences of inaction. Not only is the message pertinent, but it's told in a fresh, visually engaging way. While I'm not sure if Earth 2100 warrants a purchase—I don't know how often I would re-watch it— it's certainly worth a rental. 
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