This Changes Everything (2015 film)
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = This Changes Everything
| image = This Changes Everything poster.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Film poster
| director = Avi Lewis
| producer = Joslyn Barnes
Avi Lewis
Alfonso Cuarón (executive)
| based_on = {{Based on|This Changes Everything|Naomi Klein}}
| narrator = Naomi Klein
| music = David Wall
Adam B. White
| cinematography = Mark Ellam
| editing = Nick Hector
Mary Lampson
| studio = Klein Lewis Productions
Louverture Films
| distributor = Abramorama
| released = {{Film date|2015|09|13|Toronto|df=yes}}
| runtime = 89 minutes
| country = Canada
United States
| language = English
| budget =
}}
This Changes Everything is a 2015 documentary film directed by Avi Lewis. It is based on the book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by his wife, Naomi Klein.{{cite web |url=http://filmmakermagazine.com/95534-tiff-director-avi-lewis-on-climate-change-doc-this-changes-everything/ |author=Scott Macaulay |title=TIFF 2015: Director Avi Lewis on Climate Change Doc, This Changes Everything |work=Filmmaker |date=2015-09-13 |accessdate=2015-09-21}}
The film is a Canada-United States coproduction.{{cite web |publisher=Toronto International Film Festival |title=This Changes Everything (programme note) |author=Steve Gravestock |url=http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/tiffdocs/this-changes-everything |accessdate=2015-09-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906215609/http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/tiffdocs/this-changes-everything |archivedate=6 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }}
At the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, the film was first runner-up for the People's Choice Award: Documentaries.{{cite press release |date=2015-09-20 |accessdate=2015-09-21 |title=Toronto International Film Festival Announces 2015 Award Winners |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/presscontent.tiff.net/docs/48vk20_Festival_Awards_2015__8877337_1442771061.pdf |publisher=Toronto International Film Festival}}
Synopsis {{anchor|Synopsis|Plot}}
The film surveys a number of environmental activists around the world:
- Alberta, Canada— Crystal, a young indigenous Beaver Lake Cree Nation leader in Athabasca oil sands country, fights for access to a restricted military base.
- Powder River Basin, Montana— Mike and Alexis, a goat ranching couple impacted by oil from a broken pipeline. They organize against fossil fuel extraction and form an alliance with the Northern Cheyenne tribe to bring solar power to the nearby reservation.
- Halkidiki, Greece— Melachrini, a housewife opposed to mining and drilling projects by Canadian corporation Eldorado Gold; against the backdrop of Greece in crisis.{{cite news|last1=Barnes|first1=Henry|title=This Changes Everything review - Naomi Klein's documentary on climate change doesn't|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/17/this-changes-everything-review-naomi-kleins-documentary-on-climate-change-doesnt|accessdate=24 December 2015|work=The Guardian|date=17 September 2015}}
- Andhra Pradesh, India— Jyothi, a matriarch fighting a proposed coal-fired power plant that will destroy a wetland.
- China— Smog-choked Beijing.{{cite web |title=About |url=https://thischangeseverything.org/the-documentary/ |accessdate=24 December 2015 |website=This Changes Everything official website}}
Reception
=Box office=
=Reviews=
The film received a mixed reaction from film critics. It garnered a 56% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews.{{cite web|title=THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING (2015)|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/this_changes_everything_2015/|website=Rotten Tomatoes|accessdate=23 December 2015}} At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received a mixed or average score of 59, based on seven reviews.{{cite web | url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/this-changes-everything | title= This Changes Everything: Reviews | work=Metacritic | publisher=CNET Networks, Inc | accessdate=23 December 2015}}
Writing for the Los Angeles Times, critic Michael Rechtshaffen wrote: "They may not do enough to alter the climate change film landscape, but Klein and those impassioned protesters provide something that has been in short supply in the predecessors — namely, a modicum of hope for the future."{{cite news|last1=Rechtshaffen|first1=Michael|title=Review: This Changes Everything puts a human face on global warming|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-this-is-everything-review-20151016-story.html|accessdate=23 December 2015|date=16 October 2015}}
Writing for The Guardian, reviewer Henry Barnes stated that the "implication [of the film's opening confession from the author that she's 'always kind of hated films about climate change'] is that This Changes Everything is going to excite and inspire in a way that climate change documentaries have failed to before. It really doesn’t. It gives those of us in the affluent parts of the world more reason to feel bad and only a suggestion of what to do with that feeling."
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://thischangeseverything.org/the-documentary/ Official website]
- {{IMDb title|1870548|This Changes Everything}}
- [https://www.facebook.com/thischangeseverythingproject Official Facebook]
- [http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-251-refugee-smuggling-steve-fonyo-doc-bond-songs-climate-change-and-capitalism-1.3232123/naomi-klein-and-avi-lewis-on-their-documentary-this-changes-everything-1.3232194 Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis on their documentary This Changes Everything], an interview on Day 6 (CBC Radio; 18 September 2015)
- [http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/2/this_changes_everything_naomi_klein_avi This Changes Everything: Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis Film Re-imagines Vast Challenge of Climate Change (Pt. 1)] and [http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/2/this_changes_everything_naomi_klein_avi_lewis (Pt. 2)], an interview on Democracy Now! (2 October 2015)
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqw99rJYq8Q Excerpt from the film], on YouTube
{{Naomi Klein}}
{{Portal bar|Business and economics|Global warming|Film}}
Category:Documentary films about global warming
Category:American documentary films
Category:Canadian documentary films
Category:2015 documentary films
Category:Films based on non-fiction books
Category:2010s English-language films
Category:English-language Canadian films