Documenting a movement
TWO years ago, on a summer’s day, a school student held a strike, launching a movement that continues to make waves worldwide.
After the summer holidays, rather than returning to school, Greta Thunberg went to stage her own climate protest in front of Sweden’s parliament.
Thunberg was soon joined by many others and now, young people around the world have joined the struggle to protect the climate.
A new film, I Am Greta, helps us get closer to Thunberg, who is now 17 years old.
After a cinema launch in some countries in October, the film saw its international online release on Nov 13 with Hulu in the United States and other local streaming services worldwide.
It was only by coincidence that director Nathan Grossman happened to film Thunberg as she sat alone in Stockholm in August 2018.
But he kept following her protest and capturing the growth of the movement.
He then filmed the protests that started in other countries, and tracked how even politicians came to take note of young people’s concerns, and invite them to international conferences.
I am Greta follows the evolution of this movement, now a force to be reckoned with around the world.
At the heart of the film is the young Swedish woman who remains the face of the protests.
The movie features Thunberg talking about her personal problems, including her Asperger’s syn
drome. It includes exciting scenes as she travels around with her father, preparing speeches. We see her as she fearlessly meets politicians and calmly gives interviews.
She also makes the apt observation that a climate conference only offered meat dishes, with no vegetarian or vegan options.
It may not all be entirely new material but it neatly sums up the movement, while portraying its difficulties.
For Thunberg soon realises that although politicians like to be photographed with her, nothing really changes.
Unfortunately, the impact of this on Thunberg and her family is largely left open. But viewers can enjoy a few personal moments, the most moving of which feature in the second half of the film.
The camera also follows Thunberg and her father as they cross the Atlantic in a sailboat.
As the waves roar and crash against the vessel as it makes its way across the ocean, Thunberg sits and cries.
“It’s such a responsibility,” she says.
The moment comes shortly before she gave her famous angry speech at the UN climate summit in New York: “You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?” –