About a third of the way into Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, a man installing an electric car battery is wearing a T-shirt that states these words: “Don’t know, don’t care.” Director Jennifer Baichwal, who grew up in Victoria, has created a meditative film (the third in a series, following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark) that introduces us to the hidden landscapes of a world amidst vast environmental changes and asks its viewers, “If you knew, would you care?”
Scientists agree that the Earth has entered a new epoch called the Anthropocene, where mankind is the dominating force of change to the planet’s systems. Humankind’s need for dwindling resources puts strain on every aspect of natural process imaginable. Anthropocene examines the ecological impact humans have had on the planet, as well as on the lives and communities caught in the middle.
The film’s strength is its ability to lull us into uninhabitable territory, grounding the viewer by way of subtle humanity. Choosing to juxtapose sunbathing teens in Siberia amid debris-strewn beaches, or two men canoeing through the hazy pastels of lithium lakes against the backdrop of the world’s driest desert, creates wonderfully effective moments.
Stunning drone footage takes us on a bird’s-eye journey across the globe, a journey that is at times deeply disorienting and surreal. In one scene we encroach upon a monstrous contraption in the dark of night as its claws eat away a mass of land; in another we float out of a massive marble pit, watching machinery struggle to rip slabs from the ground.
Alicia Vikander’s sparse narration calmly delivers hard-to-swallow facts, although the film does also provide hope, however bleak and ironic it may be. Vaguely aware of sea levels rising, a Chinese worker proudly describes doing his part to build an artificial sea wall only to protect nearby oil production in one tragically heartwarming scene.
Baichwal’s languid pacing allows us to ruminate on our own place within this new world. Will we consider the implications of our existence? Can we adapt to these rapid changes, and should we? Early in the film a woman refers to one of 10,000 confiscated ivory tusks, saying, “I was not able to stop this elephant from dying, but I’m certainly able to stop this elephant from being desecrated further.”
We cannot change what has been done, but we can choose to see it, and that’s the first step. Anthropocene helps us to see.
Anthropocene (with Jennifer Baichwal Q&A)
5 pm and 7 pm, Sunday October 14
$7.75, Cinecenta
cinecenta.com