Nobody likes thinking about climate change, but as 2019’s summer temps shatter records, it’s harder to pretend it isn’t happening—and harder to justify not doing anything about it. If David Wallace Wells’ The Uninhabitable Earth and Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate don’t sound like relaxing beach reads, stay inside and watch stuff! Find these movies on the Mercury’s shelf at Movie Madness (4320 SE Belmont, moviemadness.com) from Thurs Aug 1-Sat Aug 31!
The Day After Tomorrow (dir. Roland Emmerich, 2004)—There was a time when climate change was just a wacky thing that might happen, like aliens invading on Independence Day or asteroids causing Armageddon. Ah, 2004! Good times.
Children of Men (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)—In Cuarón’s masterpiece, climate change is part of a dystopia defined by terrorism, war, and infertility. Instead of changing their own behavior, though, the people in Children of Men blame and brutalize refugees. Huh!
Climate of Doubt (dir. Catherine Upin, 2012)—Originally aired on PBS’ Frontline, Upin’s film follows journalist John Hockenberry as he examines the right wing’s dark-money-funded misinformation campaign that delayed meaningful action until it was too late.
Chasing Ice (dir. Jeff Orlowski, 2012)— Jeff Orlowski’s mournful Chasing Ice offers beautiful, horrific visions of Earth’s last glaciers. Five years later, his similarly effective Chasing Coral (2017) documented how warming water has annihilated undersea ecosystems.
Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2013)—Most fictional stories set in worlds altered by climate change take place in hot, dry hellscapes. The darkly funny Snowpiercer, though, takes place in cold, icy hellscapes! Cold, icy hellscapes where the rich save themselves and leave the rest of us to die. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mad Max: Fury Road (dir. George Miller, 2015)—True, we’ll probably all be slaughtered in the Water Wars as monstrous warlords turn everyone into twisted, screaming wraiths. But maybe there’ll be awesome cars?
Before the Flood (dir. Fisher Stevens, 2016)—Leonardo DiCaprio’s made a few climate docs, most recently Ice on Fire (2019), director Leila Conners’ HBO film about the challenges of drawing down carbon. With a haunting score by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Gustavo Santaolalla, Before the Flood follows an earnest DiCaprio as he talks with fancy-pantses—Barack Obama! Pope Francis!—about how fucked we are, and how maybe we should get un-fucked.
The Bad Batch (dir. Ana Lily Amirpour, 2016)—A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night director Amirpour’s The Bad Batch finds one-armed, one-legged Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) stumbling around a post-collapse desert of cannibals (Jason Momoa!) and madmen (Jim Carrey!). Also, Keanu Reeves has a harem? Sure! Sounds about right.
