DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET ★ ★ ★ ★
( Cert PG, 83mins. In cinemas for one night only on Monday and on Netflix from October 4)
FOR seven decades, Sir David Attenborough has travelled the globe to bring us the natural world’s most remarkable spectacles. And there are more jaw- dropping scenes of exotic places and creatures in this beautifully shot feature film. But the creatures take a back seat here. Sir David wants to get something off his chest. The film opens with him standing in
a classroom in front of a communist mural. Under his feet, broken glass, behind him, a pile of books. “Chernobyl was a single event,” he says. “The true tragedy of our time is still unfolding.”
A Life On Our Planet is an obituary for the human race. This is what he calls his “witness statement”. His privileged position and career have shown him how we are destroying the ecosystem.
The 1950s, when he began his adventures, were “the happiest time of my life”, he says. But that black- and- white footage is tinged with sadness.
Since then, on average “wild animal populations have more than halved. Looking back, those forests, plains and seas were already emptying”.
Then, about halfway through this extraordinary film, something unprecedented happens. Sir David loses it. “Human beings have over- run the world,” he sniffs. “We’ve destroyed it, we’ve ruined it.”
The consummate professional looks away from the camera, choking back tears for a lost Eden.
After a heartbreaking pause, he begins to return to his old self. “But it’s not all doom and gloom,” he adds, slightly unconvincingly. Apparently, we can still turn back the clock. We can be persuaded to have fewer children and eat less meat, he says. Fishing- free zones can bring life back to barren seas, more efficient farming methods as practised in the Netherlands require less land. “We can re- wild the world,” he explains.
After all he has witnessed, Sir David is approaching his 11th decade on planet Earth with a smile. He’s an example to us all.
Monday’s screening also features an exclusive conversation between Sir David and Sir Michael Palin.