Green Options » movie

Dole Finally Drops Fatuous Lawsuit Against Bananas!*

Rhonda Winter — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:00:00 +0000

I am thrilled to report that the Dole Food Company has finally dropped their ridiculous lawsuit against the filmmakers of the powerful documentary Bananas!*. It appears that the courts have ruled that the fatuous defamation lawsuit of the criminally inclined Dole was proven to be nearly as lacking as the multi-national corporation’s integrity.

Just a few minutes ago I received this rather nonchalant tweet from one of the movie’s Swedish creators, Fredrik Gertten: ***http://bit.ly/IoQ96 DOLE dismissing the BANANAS!* law suit it seems.***

Bananas!* Exposes Dole’s Poisonous Practices

Rhonda Winter — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:30:21 +0000

An explosive new documentary, Bananas!*, examines global food politics by following the crusade of lawyer Juan J. Dominguez, as he fights for the rights of thousands of banana plantation workers in Nicaragua who have been made sterile from exposure to the banned pesticide DBCP (Dibromo Chloropropane). This toxic chemical has been shown to cause cancer in animals, sterility in humans, and has been banned in most of the Americas since 1977. The film follows Dominguez as he fights the behemoth Dole Company for restitution for the abused Nicaraguan workers in the US courts.

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The Dole Food Company is now attempting to sue the filmmakers and producers, and has unsuccessfully attempted to block screenings of the movie at the Los Angeles Film Festival earlier this year. WG Film, Fredrik Gertten and Margarete Jangård, the creators of Bananas!*, have retained a First Amendment rights lawyer to fight back against the multinational giant Dole. The corporation’s lawsuit claims that the film is defamatory and false toward Dole Food. **Bananas!* is definitely a movie that the Dole Corporation does not want you to see. It is presently scheduled for wide release this October.**

Pirated DVDs Sold in Peru Will Pollute the Country for a Long Time

Levi Novey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:02:33 +0000

One of the great things about living in a developing country like Peru is that you can buy DVDs of new movies for a very low price. For instance, if you want a DVD of The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, you can already buy it here. Not too shabby, eh?

Of course, you cannot be a stickler for quality with such DVDs, or you will be sorely disappointed. But if you like laughing along with audiences, wearing a hearing aid while watching movies, or pride yourself in your non-humble ability to tell people to sit down and shut up in the theater, then I’ve got a Kungfu Panda DVD that will be perfect for you.

It will probably come as no surprise to you that these kinds of DVDs are made by pirating businesses who use digital cameras to record new movies in theaters. They then distribute them quickly to the masses for profit. Peru, as well as many other developing countries where pirated DVDs are sold will unquestionably suffer over time from the pollution these DVDs will cause. To better understand why the environmental effect of DVDs will be proportionally greater in Peru than in a country like the United States, read on.

Will New Indiana Jones Movie Be Good for Peru? Probably Not

Levi Novey — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:00:48 +0000

Set for its world premiere today at the Cannes Film Festival, and then its wide release on Thursday, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will feature Peru prominently in its story. One preview for the movie shows a plane flying over the Nazca Lines and according to another the characters will also take their quest to find the Crystal Skull into Peru’s jungles. Looking back at the past Indiana Jones movies, Peruvians should hold their breath before cheering the arrival of Indiana Jones in theaters.

Movie Review: Arctic Tale

Gavin Hudson — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:51:40 +0000

Arctic Tale brings us to a frigid world of snow dunes and sloshing sea ice. It follows the lives of a young female polar bear, “Nanu,” and a young female walrus, “Seela.” Like all children today, Nanu and Seela are growing up in a rapidly changing world. For Nanu and her family, a 20% decrease of sea ice and warmer, earlier summers bring a severe food scarcity. Meanwhile, shrinking icebergs supply scarce resting places for Seela and her plump pinniped pod. Both take to the open ocean in a desperate bid for survival—great rulers of the north turned to exiled refugees.

The expert cinematography of Arctic Tale captures an age-old tragicomedy with a new and unsettling twist. Ardent lovers, defiant youth, unmitigated kindness, and sex jostle with death, solitude, violent battles, and the turbulent upheaval of a mighty and ancient kingdom. The drama unfolds around a polar bear and a walrus—children of rival families in a strange and beautiful world of unicorned whales and a cold sun. What we as an audience do not see until the movie’s end is how intimately we are entwined in the plot.

The film makes no overt mention of global warming until the very end. By sidestepping the link between this phenomenon and mankind, the film smartly avoids the emotional recoil of those who still have difficulty coming to terms with our species’ influence on our environment. Rather than confront the issue from the human perspective, the film simply documents the dramatic effects of warming in the far North. Only after the film closes does the focus again return to the human world with suggestions about how each of us can reduce our impact on the climate.

Except for our role in climate change, the rest of the film is devoid of any human presence. The filmmakers are quite successful at documenting a world that is largely unknown to most people. They share some of the most intimate moments of the film’s protagonists. We are taken beneath the water to see Seela nursing at her mother’s belly and inside of a polar bear’s cave, where Nanu bears cubs of her own. If we judge the movie solely on the merit and skill of its documentary filmmakers, it lives up in every way to the masterpiece, March of the Penguins. Most of the soundtrack also sets a solitary, sentimental, almost indie feeling that is perfect for a film “at the edge of the world.”

However, instead of recreating the epic drama of March of the Penguins, this film was marketed toward a much younger audience. Queen Latifah’s playful, sassy narrating tone resonates with the “cute and cuddly” theme of the movie poster, which was clearly aimed at drawing parents and children. Those who come with the expectations seeing another March of the Penguins or An Inconvenient Truth may be disappointed to find a younger target demographic.

Still, making stories of the natural world accessible to children is perhaps the best way to instill in them the importance of caring about our impact on the environment. The success of theatricals like The Lion King and television stars like Jeff Corwin are hopeful signs that the genre of Nature-Adventure will soon open wide enough to appeal to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. By more regularly glimpsing the natural world, we are able in some sense to remember our part in it.

The magic of the movies is that we leave the theater feeling like the hero or the heroine of the film. As the credits roll and we stand up from our plush, popcorn-scented seats, we take with us the intrepid bravery of Indiana Jones or the humble tenacity of Frida Kahlo. But rarely do we leave the theater feeling like a polar bear or a walrus!

I left the theater on a chill, cloudy Seattle afternoon. The shifting of loose brick under my feet transported me back to the arctic, where thin ice was crumbling beneath thick paws.

Tip o’ the Day: Find Out Who Killed the Electric Car

Rebecca Carter — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:01:54 +0000

The best homework assignments only came once in a blue moon when your teacher said that you had to watch a TV show or movie at home. Today's tip is just as easy. If you haven't watched Who Killed the Electric Car? yet, it's definitely worth your time.

The documentary on the life and death of electric vehicles (EVs) plays out just like a good murder mystery. And yes, you will actually witness a murder, so to speak, in the film.

Electric vehicles have been around for a hundred years, but we don't have much to show for it today. This clean, efficient, and relatively simple technology is using an "alternative" power that is available today.

Since the movie premier, small and large automakers have been showing off models of EVs and Plug-In Hybrids. The former will begin to hit the market as early as this year, and the latter will hopefully arrive within the next 2-3 years.

Check out the movie from your local library or Netflix to get the whole story!

Rebecca says: This movie was a big eye opener for me. I highly recommend it. Yesterday I continued my "journey of enlightenment" by attending a lecture by Sherry Boschert, author of the newly released book, Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America. I also got to drive an EV! Full coverage of this event can be found on greenerMIAMI.

Who Killed the Electric Car? website