Hollywood Takes On The Environment

12th January 2014

The film industry has always had a history of creating films that have strong environmental messaging. The film Promised Land is no exception with Gus Van Sant and Matt Damon coming together to create a thought provoking drama about environmental issues and how they affect a small community. Due to this we are taking a look back at films that have addressed environmental issues during the last century.

Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich details the story of a single mother who, after becoming assistant to a lawyer, goes undercover and discovers that a local water supplier has been knowingly supplying water which is contaminated with a carcinogenic. Brockovich being the first person to discover this works with her boss to put together a case, winning a payout of 333 million dollars for the residents of Hinkley, California. Julia Roberts was cast in the leading role and won an academy award for her portrayal.

King Corn

King Corn is a documentary which follows two best friends in their attempts to set up their own farm, which leads to a steep learning curve about the nature of the corn industry and its negative effects on cattle.

Chinatown

Chinatown is a 1970s film starring Jack Nicholson in the role of the lead character J.J. Gittes who gets set up by an actress posing as a wife who suspects her husband of having an affair. After following the husband Gittes is contacted by the real Mrs Mulwray who intends to sue him. Due to this mishap, Gittes is entered into a violent mystery in which he has to defend the city against those who wish to corrupt the way water is supplied. The film was nominated for numerous awards and won an Academy Award for its screenplay.

Hoot

Hoot is a 2006 family film about a group of teenagers who become friends when they are united in their quest to protect a vacant plot of land when a pancake company decides to build on it. The land is a habitat to a rare species of burrowing owl who the teens are trying to protect leading them to sabotage construction attempts and eventually save the site.

Happy Feet

Happy Feet portrays the journal of young penguin Mumble played by Elijah Wood, who discovers that he can’t sing, a trait which is prized in penguins. Instead, Mumble loves to dance, and so is ostracised from his penguin tribe. To prove himself he tries to save his tribe from a fish drought, the result of human fishing. The film highlighted the impact that fishing has on animal wellbeing and won various Academy Awards and BAFTAs across the board.

Silkwood

This drama follows Karen Silkwood, played by Meryl Streep who is a worker at a factory which handles nuclear products. She becomes involved in campaigning for workers’ rights after suspecting that the factory is guilty of foul play with her case becoming national before she herself contracts radiation poisoning. Cher won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role of Silkwood’s housemate.

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore, who was Vice President of the USA under Bill Clinton, narrated this documentary about how we damage our own environment. Presenting evidence to the audience from science about how climate change is real, Gore puts forward a case at a time when climate change was a relatively new idea.

Fast Food Nation

After a store manager of a fast-food chain discovers that the food is contaminated, he starts his own investigation into how our fast food is really made, and its ethical implications on animals.

How Green Was My Valley

This 1940s film tells the story of a family in a Welsh coal-mining village, where times are hard. Portraying the ups and downs of family life and how the family are forced into poverty by corrupt mine owners, the film earned itself five Academy Awards.

Avatar

James Cameron’s Avatar covered a whole range of environmental topics, including the destruction of rainforests, corruption in power which is trying to destroy the alternate planet and how we treat our own planet.

Promised Land on Blu-ray™ and DVD – all with UltraViolet™ – and digital download from 13th January 2014.

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