World War IIi: The Population Explosion And Our Planet

The numbers astound: 260,000 humans are born every day while 70 or more non-human species expire or become endangered. The premise of this righteous but resonant documentary is that the consumptive, short-sighted mode of human existence is on a collision course with the biosphere. To illustrate the thesis, filmmaker Michael Tobias chooses graphic images--of young workers, for example, recklessly beating animals. Of course, anyone who has eaten a hamburger knows who died to make it. But Tobias does a global take on the breadth of these problems. In Nairobi, education can't cure economic hardship, and poachers run rampant. In India, violence against animals mirrors violence against women. And in China and the U.S., unchecked consumerism breeds pollution and a widening gulf between the classes. The most fascinating feature of World War III is the interrelationships woven among economic, social, and ecological brutality; the lack of birth control among African women is related to the slaughter of elephants, according to Tobias. It's a strong argument, intensified by explicit footage and bottomline statements (the president of a group called Population Communications shouts to the camera: "you are sadistic if you don't believe population growth is the world's number one problem"). This film's agenda is not to explore, but to incite (and maybe nauseate). But, even those who disagree will find it useful for starting the conversation. Recommended. (A. Laker)