Revolution (II) (2012) User Reviews

Save ourselves

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 12 May 2015]

Greetings again from the darkness. If you have seen Sharktown (2007), then you are already sold on the earnest commitment to conservation of documentarian Rob Stewart. In his earlier effort, the focus was on saving the shark population. This time out, he is imploring the human race "save ourselves".

Rather than blindly preach the evils of global warming and pollution, Mr. Stewart travels to 15 countries over 4 years putting together case studies of overall effects. It is a bit odd to see the first few minutes of this film focus on sharks and Stewart's first movie. It feels as if he is trying to convince us of his worthiness, rather than letting his research speak for itself. Despite this minor complaint, the underwater photography alone makes this film worth watching. Stewart's remarkable eye combined with top notch equipment and real knowledge of ocean life, elevate his photograph work to the highest level.

Of particular interest are Stewart's segments on Coral Eden in New Guinea, the diminishing coral reefs worldwide, the excessive carbon dioxide being absorbed by oceans due to the preponderance of Coal usage for energy (China opens a new coal plant each week), deforestation and its effect on Lemurs in Madagascar, the Canadian Tar Sands (Stewart is from Canada), and the increased banning of Shark Finning (now banned in more than 100 countries). Stewart drives home the point that most of the issues arise from the deep connection between governments and corporations.

Stewart's mission is to convince individuals – especially young people – that they can make a difference; and in fact they MUST make a difference, or things will be much different and worse within their lifetimes. If we believe corporations will make changes for the sake of humanity and the saving of species, then we are dead wrong.

REVOLUTION - An Education About Climate Change

[wklessens-47621 · 8/10 · 10 August 2015]

An educational and sometimes eye-opening movie event was enjoyed by around 100 attendees last Wednesday at Salem's Southern New Hampshire University. NextGen Climate – NH and Regional Field Director McKenzie St. Germain hosted a full evening that included refreshments, a showing of the independent movie REVOLUTION, an entertaining, interactive talk by New England Aquarium Education Director John Anderson, followed by informal discussions by the audience. The evening's topic centered on the worsening problem of climate change/global warming, and steps we all can take to become more aware of what we, our families and friends can do to mitigate it.

The ridiculing and goofy bumper sticker days are over, as anyone who has the slightest inkling of what is happening right in front of us already knows. This fact was pointed out in both visually beautiful as well as unnerving ways by REVOLUTION,the 85-minute documentary directed by Rob Stewart that opened the evening. Stewart also directed an earlier doc, SHARKWATER, and it was while he was filming that movie that he received one of those epiphanies that we all get sometimes that there was an even bigger situation occurring than what he was then concentrating on.

One of the problems with climate change is the fact that until the last couple decades its deleterious effects weren't obvious to most people in their day-to-day lives. Those of us who peruse cutting-edge books, online informational studies, etc. were onto the problem long before warming became routinely accepted. But there are still many people whose only knowledge of this universal concern is the well-known plight of the polar bears up in the Arctic, mainly because this piece of information went viral years ago in TV and print.

REVOLUTION's excellence rests on the incredible job that Stewart and his team did in shooting hours and hours of the underbelly of the ongoing predicament, including close-up shots of the world's rapidly dying coral reefs, various fish/crustacean species in their natural habitat (many on the endangered list), amusing and poignant views of monkey-like lemurs living, loving and playing together, the director and team swimming underwater intermingling with schools of sharks….all fascinating.

Stewart's narration complements the visuals perfectly, as instead of the typical professional and analytical tone taken by most scientists in nature documentaries we get to listen to a younger voice (32 years old at time of filming) whose awe and fear of what he was discovering as the cinematic process commenced comes through loud and clear. His friendly and personal style seems to be saying that he's "one of us" despite his superior knowledge about his subject, and we get more of a kinship with what he is imparting than we would from someone dryly talking over our heads.

Stewart cites a wealth of statistics: the Great Barrier Reef's 38% reduction of coral over the past 25 years; 44% of America's electricity still coming from coal despite all the knowledge we've gleaned over the past half-century about the unquestionable warming effects of CO2 emissions; ocean acidification that is happening faster and faster, destroying our seas' ecosystem; Canada, China and many other nations being willful partners with the United States in mostly ignoring the ongoing threat, and man's continuing deforestation around the world (his sidebar animal species/forest scenes filmed in Madagascar are simultaneously comical and tragic).

Much of this data is already available and has been for some time to the interested. What Stewart's movie is attempting to do is to make this knowledge more mainstream to the thankfully slowly-dwindling number of people and governments around the world still denying the obvious. The director attended a number of world conferences on the subject, and in REVOLUTION he shares some of the speeches by leaders, politicians and scientists at these affairs, as well as encouraging shots of young activists before and after the events, all of them galvanized about making other nations aware of our responsibility to lower our burning of fossil fuels and lessen our reliance on automobiles.

What we all have to realize is that only 10% of the ongoing warming the earth is experiencing is happening in our air – 90% is occurring in our oceans. Our upper atmosphere has become a heat-trapping blanket over the near-two centuries since the Industrial Revolution, a simple fact that anyone with an aquarium and a little fuel and tinder can experimentally recreate at home. And despite being cyclical, the (literally) countless tons of pollutants and hot emissions that have been spewed into our air over those years have made warming increase exponentially, with thousands of instances including the 4-year drought in California, many Arctic ice caps becoming mostly lakes, numerous animal species dying off : all making the necessity of human intervention crystal-clear.

Please GOOGLE NextGen Climate for more information on what you can do to both learn more about something we ALL should be aware of, and to hopefully start changing the mindsets of our acquaintances who may still be stuck in the past. We're all in this together, and for anyone who cares about the world we're going to leave to our children's children's children, as well as the health and continuance of our animal species, forests and natural wonders, this is all necessary knowledge.

environmental activism

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 13 May 2020]

Rob Stewart grew up as an animal lover and became a filmmaker. In 2007, he released Sharkwater to tackle the shark finning industry. He is then forced to face a much greater threat to the global environment. It starts with the lost of coral due to ocean acidification and the movie closes with the fight against the tar sands in Canada.

The first half has some interesting underwater filming and a healthy helping of environmental diatribe. It gets a little unbalanced as it concentrates more on the tar sands and railing against Canada at an environment conference. It's not as pretty as underwater life and it is very much tilting at windmills. I'm not convinced of the effectiveness of these environment conferences. There is a naivety to the world that is rather pathetic. They're going to war against powerful forces and their only weapon seems to be shame.

Worthwhile Productions!!

[natalie-galazka · 10/10 · 9 February 2013]

An incredible film by an incredible man.

Gorgeous underwater photography - phytoplankton at night, schools of fish moving in fantastic patterns, lemurs in Madagascar dancing and sunbathing!! The interviews with scientists, conservationists and activists present wholistic views on the issues - which left me feeling educated, optimistic and inspired.

The film takes you through a visual history of underwater and terrestrial life in order to better see where we are and what needs to happen.

Essential viewing for all.

If you have kids you need to see this movie

[Brian-656-894338 · 10/10 · 11 April 2013]

Totally Moved By this Film - Actually if you live on this earth you should see this movie! We are literally consuming the planet and all the resources on the planet that create life - it is time to reassess our wants and needs so we stop destroying the future for generations to come. This stunning motion picture will open you eyes to the fact we need to change and we need to start by educating everyone around us. They need to be aware of their actions, they need to decide to do something to sustain the planet not destroy it. Fight for something you love or believe in- don't sit by and watch your kids future be consumed. Get involved. Tell your friends to go see this movie - it will change their lives, it has already changed mine !!!

Simply Excellent

[sdekster · 10/10 · 17 April 2013]

I am a big fan of Rob Stewart's work. He had me at Sharkwater. His latest film shows beautiful footage of some of the world's amazing living things, and then the not so beautiful as well, such as Alberta's oil sands. Stewart is very humble in his approach, acknowledging the importance of holding yourself accountable for environmental impacts, and he definitely does not leave his own impact out of the equation.

The best feature of this film is that it is highly empowering for youth. As an educator, I highly recommend taking your students to see this film. Our school took every kid from grade five through eight to see it before it even hit theatres. It is potentially in theatres for only a few weeks so go now before it is too late.

A must see documentary!

[rebecca-raveendran · 10/10 · 10 April 2013]

The graphics in this movie are exceptional. Not to mention the audio throughout the film is amazing. It enhances the beauty of the shots taken.

The efforts put forth by the director Rob Stewart to capture all aspects of environmental issues was well presented. He captured a wide array of footage from different countries, underwater and even during the midst of protests. Especially the underwater filming which makes you as a viewer feel as if you are there with Rob in the ocean.

Conducting interviews with environmentalists, scientists and most inspiring children he provides in-depth information on the issues. The parts of the movie where Rob talks to children who have already started to slowly make a difference is very moving.

The movie makes you realize the danger our future is in and gives motivation to actually do something about it.

Overall a great documentary that everyone that everyone must watch!

Poor Film! Doesn't Address Real Cause of Devastations

[bookings-710-597961 · 1/10 · 15 August 2015]

I saw this film in the theatre and I have to say that I wasted my money. I watch a lot of documentary films and have an open mind about everything. Though there were a few good points in the film, they missed the whole point. Conservation is not the answer, though conservation is good, it is the not solution. What people don't understand is that most problems that we are faced with on the planet is because of the violence we cause to ourselves, non-human animals and nature. All of the problems starts with the animal foods we shove down our throats and doesn't matter how the animals are raised or treated, using and killing another being sows the same in humans. People don't want to believe that eating and using animals is the crux of it all. We want to continue abusing, torturing and killing animals and believe the problems has nothing to do with animal foods. Just picture this. If humans are consuming animals, their dead bodies and secretions, the fear, anger, trauma, depression, boredom and sickness and all the animals other experiences and emotions, don't just fly away somewhere in thin air, they are transferred to us. And because we eat all their emotions and experiences, we experience the same in our lives and the world around us. Why is it that the majority of humans, that eat animal foods, experiences the same fear, violence, trauma, depression and sickness etc. just like the animals? When will we ever learn that veganism will indeed save ourselves and the world. Not to mention all the animal lives that are spared when we become vegan. I talked about this to Rob Stewart and again like everyone else he gave a stupid justification for continuing the violence on helpless beings. Come on people, wake up!

Revolution is an important movie for everyone to see.

[the_crows_blade · 10/10 · 10 April 2013]

Revolution is an important and stunning documentary that confronts many of the environmental issues facing humanity today. It is a beautiful, terrifying, and inspiring film that calls us to action to save the world we love. Stewart explores the current and probable impacts of environmental hazards like ocean acidification and what they could mean for our future. He also participates in protests and interviews expert scientists and researchers about what we need to do to make a difference. The cinematography is breathtaking and the animals which are featured throughout the film make the environmental consequences of idleness harder to stomach. This is a movie meant to rile up the audience and convince them to take action. It certainly does that. With any luck, enough people will see the film and be moved by it to start their own revolution.

A story about how human beings are asked to help save the environment.

[annuskavdpol · 5/10 · 10 October 2013]

The movie Revolution by Rob Stewart was a very academic film. It used a very academic approach to conveying a global message about the environment. To me, it was the conceptualization that captured the essence of the film. The conceptualization was about how the individuals within the upper layers of the hierarchy make decisions about how the lower levels of the hierarchy should live. Rob Stewart seemed to be trying to advocate for social injustices being done to the poor and at the same time, he was conveying a message about how corporations were constantly moving ahead with their plans while destroying parts of the environment. In 2013, this film-theme is one of pure universalism - for example - the idea that corporations are entities and at times they are not always doing what is right for human-beings.

In a way Rob Stewart was like Michael Moore - trying hard for society to change. However I found the message of the movie to have been delivered in a very conventional way - and I found that how the message was conveyed to have been so academic - that it just fell flat.

Furthermore, the topic about the environment is such a futuristic topic - as how does one really know what the future will look like? There are currently so many natural disasters in the world today - how does one know if human beings are destroying the planet - or if the planet is destroying herself - in the way of a natural selection.

I much preferred his previous movie about sharks.

Written by Annuska

This was quite the documentary

[cjdlaron · 10/10 · 10 April 2013]

All I can say is you guys should check this out because it's an amazing look at the environmental crisis that is among us, it's alarming and potentially devastating. The way it's captured on film is pretty much a great insight to what could happen next if we continue to ignore important issues. The thing that stuck to me was the sequential order of the doc. From this issue to another, every one has an important message to send out. I believe this can change people's lives. I can say that this is the best documentary i have seen in recent memory. We humans can do a lot to help the missions for environmental awareness. I personally feel for the victims of the natural disasters because it's caused by ignorance. I hope everyone sees this. It's a real wake up call to the environment.

Revolution is Pre-Screened at University of Calgary: A Reflection on Rob Stewart's New Film

[rkjarvik25 · 10/10 · 2 April 2013]

Before the film began, the audience was told that Rob Stewart was on his way over to do a post-screening Q&A with us. The film screened: Revolution. Expertly photographed, with Rob Stewart himself at the helm of the cinematography. This is an important documentary that gives unfiltered voice and expedient agency to the voice of youth all around the world. Felix Finkbeiner and a young Lebanese woman (I'm unable to remember her name) were two among many who brought me to such wellsprings of emotion as I have never felt. The grandchildren of the world are fighting for the survival of their grandchildren. As Rob Stewart told me in my February interview with him:

"In the past the people affected by a destructive culture were the ones who moved to resolve it, for slavery it was the blacks, for women's suffrage it was women. Now, youth are facing the greatest social challenge. Youth have not drunk the Kool-Aid so to speak, they don't rationalize they just do what needs to be done. We are eating their future."

The striking beauty of the cinematography featured in this film is a testament to the way in which Rob Stewart and many others featured in this film might view the ocean: with such vivid and lucid beauty. The ocean is the lifeblood of all life on Earth.

Revolution brings into a very clear focus, as clear as possible, the incredible efficacy of the multi-tiered project of global awareness, whether from the leading environmental scientists, or public demonstrations, everyone has an integral role to play in the fight for human survival on this gorgeous planet. We can change, because we are changing. The question is not whether or not we should change, the question is, what direction to we want to go in?

Canada, and more specifically Alberta, is home to the most destructive industrial resource project on Earth, the Tar Sands. It is no wonder Rob Stewart chose Alberta as a focus-group to preview his film, as Alberta is exactly where the change in direction needs to occur.

As the "godfather" of coral and former chief scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Charlie Veron, said in the film: the only way to that we can avoid increased ocean acidification, which is the cause of most major extinctions in the history of life on planet Earth, is to stop burning fossil fuels. Canada, home to Greenpeace and other environmentally-savvy networks, has been the recipient of the Fossil Award, given to the nation which has most hindered global efforts to reduce carbon emissions, 5 years in a row.

Through an insightful look at sharks, flamboyant cuttlefish, and the Canadian lynx, Rob Stewart takes us on a narrative journey into the depths and heights of evolutionary progress, and how the will to live is our greatest asset as inheritors of the great and mysterious onus called life in this universe. We must realize that our responsibility as living beings is to reciprocate, or we will get exactly what is coming, without exception, regardless of our being a singular species of unrivaled capacity, we are not invincible to extinction.

Soon there will be 7 billion people on Earth, yet non-renewable resources are consumed exponentially. Canada has no energy policy. During a conversation before the screening with George Melnyk, professor of literature, film and Western Canadian identity at University of Calgary, he said:

"I'm in my sixties, and I've spent most of my life in Canada under Liberal federal governments. Since 2006, under the minority Harper government and now the majority Harper government, so we're talking like seven years, we have moved much more clearly towards a partisan position, meaning that we support a group of nations, a group of people that want to act a certain way in the world, we don't want to stand away from that a little bit, right? So that balance being partisan and trying to be non-partisan, that has now disappeared. We're very military-oriented. The experience in Afghanistan has been completely wasted."

An increasing number of people bear the brunt of starvation, while trillions are spent to wage what is fast becoming the longest war in modern history (Afghanistan) and bail out indebted banks. "The scientists have done their job, now it's time for the politicians to do theirs," says an interviewee in Revolution.

At the end of the film, Rob Stewart told us about the many awards the film has already received, he was glowing with optimism. Revolution is due to appear on more screens than any other documentary in Canadian history. One hand raised came down to a more pessimistic tune. To that, Stewart simply responded that it is usually the people who are not doing anything who are pessimistic, the people who are actually involved in helping to make positive change are optimistic.

For the last question, my hand went up like lightning. He took my question; what I had been waiting to ask for months since our private phone conversation would see the light of day in front of a full crowd at the university theater:

"What is the biggest thing that makes you optimistic every day?" I asked. I remembered the way I felt after I first spoke to Stewart; crushing powerlessness. He responded something to the tune of: What makes me optimistic everyday is observing life itself, and how life has survived. I think that especially now when we are bombarded by over-consumptive habits in the use of technology, finding meaning in helping to save ourselves and the Earth is the greatest source of fulfillment that we need right now.

Revolution opens in theaters everywhere April 12.

See my full film review/reflection story on Media Co-op

Watchable, inspiring and informative

[julianpjones-91250 · 9/10 · 12 October 2015]

Covers a range of issues, joined with an engaging personal narrative and culminating in a message that there is hope but we need to get involved in the movement for good. Great cinematography including beautiful underwater scenes and well produced overall.

Whilst it has a similar message to 'An Inconvenient Truth' or 'Age of Stupid' it also has something in common with David Attenborough wildlife films before it goes on to cover the Canadian tar sands issue. Then it specifically deals with the need for international cooperation at climate conferences and the need to hold politicians who attend to account, and how young people are so engaged and involved. While we have annual climate conferences this will always be topical.

Powerful, moving, brilliant

[KellieStanley3345 · 10/10 · 7 May 2021]

This film will open your eyes to the destruction of the planet, and hopefully inspire you to take action. I found it very emotional and motivating.

Not the standard "climate change" docu we all got used to since this was released (in 2012))

[OneSentenceReview · 8/10 · 17 August 2021]

Worth the watch, as it's a good mix.

A few facts: This documentary is free to watch on it's website theRevolutionMovie com

Rob Stewart died in 2017 doing what he loved, filming Sharkwaters 2 (..did he really drown - who knows)

By now we all know that coorporate biz listened too close to the "climate change" debate, and found ways to fleece the regular population after we all can't afford to tax fossil fueled vehicles any more - nor won't be able to purchase cheap used ones - as the battery needs replacing - double win as fossil fuels are still extracted from the earth.

Stewart narrates but only briefly addresses the elephant in the room (or world so to say) at minute40, min50 and min105 then sways off again towards the (by now) usual fingerpointing at coporate oil production & burning fossil fuel - what is the elusive elephant you ask? ...human population growth rate and adaption of "western lifestyle" in the most rapidly growing populations/countries (...ongoing, un-stopped & increasing, visibly accompanied by deforrestation (Southamerica &Asia) , diabetis and child obesitity due to the adapted western imported corporate-food)

Developing countries as Indonesia China India just to mention the biggest asian ones (not even starting mentioning african ones who sign deals with coorporate China completely ignoring nature preservation) had an explosive increase in industrial and population growth and don't ever make it into the baddy-list, as it's not PC to point fingers at developing countries who "only want to fetch up what the "west" did before".

Since release (2012) population grew by around 800 million (worldometers info)

Not a fact but probably true: Most of the screaming teenage pre-Greta-archetype activistists waiving billboards & shouting with tears in their eyes by now have families with more than one child (adding to the number fact above)

Rant over.

We are the Lynx (but too clever to die off) I feel with the Sharks and Lemurs.