SURVIVING PROGRESS – The Review

SURVIVNG PROGRESS is a new documentary based on the book ” A Short History of progress” by Ronald Wright and is produced by some of the talents from the National Film Board of Canada. The film is a doomsday-style warning much in the same vein as AN INCOVENIENT TRUTH from a few years ago. Not only is out-of-control consumerism a major culprit in the depletion of our planet’s resources, but the makers of this new film also touch upon recent economic turmoil, so there’s a bit of INSIDE JOB thrown in. Unfortunately this takes away from PROGRESS’s focus as does the reliance of talking head interviews with the author, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, and countless others over interesting, original visuals. To illustrate some of the lectures we see old film footage, a bit of CGI, NASA space shuttle shots, and pixellated time-zipping-by shots of famous spots like Stonehenge ( with clouds zooming overhead ). There are also some field pieces on an automobile tour guide in China, a law-enforcement agent protecting the rain forests, and scientists studying problem solving chimps that are too brief. The film raises some excellent points, but the uninspired style makes it difficult to sustain viewer interest. At times I thought I could hear the  rattling old high school 16mm projector lulling my class room to dreamland. The film makers try to end on an upbeat note, but the author’s final suggestions to eradicate the problems was far too vague. Good luck surviving ( or staying awake ) during SURVIVNG PROGRESS.

Overall Rating: .5 Out of 5 Stars