Preventing Doomsday: Solving the World’s Greatest Problems

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MOVIE REVIEW
Solutions (Strategia dla Ziemi)
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Genre: Documentary, Science, Educational
Year Released: 2023
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director(s): Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Writer(s): Pernille Rose Grønkjær, Kristina Korsholm, Per Sandholt
Where To Watch: available now on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

RAVING REVIEW: The world is crumbling, and you can do nothing about it. Or can you? SOLUTIONS set forth to identify and explain many of the leading issues in our world and pull together an eclectic (and sometimes eccentric) group of scientists, historians, economists, and engineers to theorize SOLUTIONS! Everything from social media addiction, the divide between left and right politics, the economic crisis, and climate change from carbon emissions is brought to the table and meticulously examined. This is the doomsday documentary you will not want to miss and the one you need to see.

So, I should put a disclaimer here that this film was shot before the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. The world’s problems have become quite a bit larger than this film’s solutions. However, the information provided is still beneficial and relevant as it addresses many multifaceted issues and theorizes how to fix them.

The world can be pretty terrifying, and hope for the future is at an all-time low amongst Earth’s native sentient beings, the humans. This is likely what was running through the mind of Doyne Farmer, a Complex Systems Scientist, when he gathered together twenty different brilliant people from diverse scientific backgrounds for a ten-day “think tank” of sorts at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. This astute group of people spent this time together discussing some of the world’s most significant issues and brought with them to the table their own crafted remedies. Over those ten days, Danish filmmaker Pernille Rose Grønkjær (HUNTING FOR HEDONIA, GENETIC ME) beautifully captured this meeting of the minds at work.

This film is put together incredibly well and tells a narrative about our planet and humanity in an impressively hopeful manner. It’s both educational and inspiring while also being visually pleasing to look at. At first thought, twenty people sitting in a room talking to each other doesn’t sound very interesting, but the camera work in this film is exceptional. It draws your eyes to the subject and keeps your attention. B-roll footage is laced throughout the film to serve as a visual aid and is incredibly helpful. I was greatly impressed and thankful because it stopped this film from being perceived as a lecture and more like a television documentary you’d catch on the Discovery Channel.

I don’t have many complaints about the film, but the one thing I did keep feeling throughout was that I was overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed by this heavy, hard-hitting subject may seem logical; however, it wasn’t necessarily the subject that I was overwhelmed by. I found that cramming so much important information into one film was a bit counterproductive. Some issues got more attention than others, and some got less screen time than others, which unfortunately draws impact away from several of the principal topics. I feel that this whole film could have perhaps worked better as a documentary mini-series in episodic form. This way, the audience doesn’t get lost or overwhelmed, and each of these serious issues gets considerable screen time.

In the end, this may be one of the most substantial and salient documentaries of our time. Even though it may be challenging to follow at times because of the sheer pressure that the subject matter brings, we must attempt to understand and acknowledge these issues to secure our future and avoid disaster. I believe that the overall point of this film is more significant than just to show that there are solutions to our problems; it’s to show that there is hope for the future and that there are still people out there who care enough about it to try to save it. These twenty brilliant men and women gather in their headquarters like a real-life Justice League. Their mission? To save the world.

JT Pettry
TikTok: JT the Talking Head
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[photo courtesy of FIRST RUN FEATURES]

MY SAG-AFTRA/WGA STRIKE STATEMENT:
As an advocate for creators, actors, and writers, I firmly stand with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA in their current strike. The entertainment industry is built on these individuals’ extraordinary talents, and their contributions must be appropriately recognized and rewarded. They deserve fair compensation, sensible work hours, and respect for their creative rights. I believe in the power of unity and collective action, and I’m steadfast in my support for their fight for better working conditions and fair remuneration. Together, we can shape a more equitable future in the entertainment world.

#SAGAFTRA #WGA #SAGAFTRAStrong #WGAStrong