Esteem

As Australian filmmaker Peter Charles Downey sees it, humankind's disrespect for the environment reflects disrespect for the self—an intriguing premise that is unfortunately undercut by Downey's idiosyncratic approach. In between reminiscences about his youth, Downey interviews psychologists, ecologists, and even energetics expert Lenita Vangellis regarding his thesis. They begin by talking about low self-esteem, which can lead to bullying, and can also pass from one generation to the next, especially when people fail to seek treatment or they attempt to self-medicate. As Downey puts it, “Hurt people hurt people.” One interviewee posits neuroplasticity as a corrective, noting that the brain can be psychologically rewired to look for more positive solutions to problems. Downey and his subjects also recommend compassion and mindfulness as methods for people to heal themselves and their environment. Viewers with low self-esteem may find these interviews and remembrances of interest, but Downey has trouble tying the psychological and ecological components together. Not all documentaries require facts, figures, and historical examples to effectively make points, but their inclusion would have proved beneficial here, since everything seems vague otherwise. Downey, who narrates, also spends a fair amount of time in black-and-white sequences reflecting on his late father's alcoholism and his own struggles with substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidal ideations—deeply personal material that might have worked better in a different type of documentary. Optional. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)