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Review: David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
Regular contributors, CJ & Mike from Bimble in the Blue, review the Netlix documentary: David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
David Attenborough’s latest and arguably most important documentary to date is now showing on Netflix. It is, in his own words, his “witness statement” of a unique life exploring and documenting the wonders of the natural world.
Attenborough looks back and realizes that the previously gradual changes he witnessed (animal species becoming harder to find and fewer wild spaces) have now become vastly more widespread and noticeable. As the human population increased, so has the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide, while the amount of wilderness has decreased. His conclusion: human activity and man-made climate change have accelerated the pace of biodiversity loss. This not only imperils the majority of natural habitats and creatures on Earth, but also the very future of humankind.
From images of lush green landscapes we journey with him over time to revisit these places, now wastelands. One of the most haunting is the contrast between early footage of orangutans swinging through the rainforest, to recent images of an orangutan clinging onto a lone tree devoid of all but one branch in the wreckage of a deforested site. Attenborough then makes a statement that has stuck with me since watching “A Life On This Planet”: that though we undoubtably have an obligation to care for the natural world, it’s not just about saving other species. It is about saving ourselves. His drive and determination to advocate and spread this message as much as possible at the age of 94 is both impressive and humbling, yet Attenborough manages to make this serious subject an unexpectedly positive learning experience.
In the final chapter of the movie Attenborough turns from the bleak reality of the destruction of Earth’s biodiversity, and offers a lifeline of hope and positivity. We can, he tells us, reverse the damage we have caused, we can save our species and the wonders of the natural world, and it can be done with just a few conceptually simple actions. It’s enough to enthuse even the most jaded and pessimistic of conservationists! Attenborough has an amazing ability to awaken our love of the natural world and now he shows us our future is in our hands. It’s time to act. But we must start now and it must be a united effort.
You don’t have to be a scuba diver to be impressed with the eloquence of David Attenborough’s words, or his powerful yet simple message. We are self-confessed Attenborough super fans, but I don’t think anyone could contest that this is a stunning 1 hour and 20 minutes of hard hitting brilliance. The film closes with the comment, “Who else needs to see it?” The answer is all of us. We highly recommend this documentary to everyone. Put simply if you watch no other documentary this year, watch this one.