The messy history of Greenpeace
There is an unfortunate hole at the centre of Jerry Rothwell’s Greenpeace doc; Vancouver journalist-turned-eco-warrior Bob Hunter, who died in 2005. But the film finds a way to bring him to life, through incredible archival footage from the 1970s as well as Hunter’s thoughtful prose, often read in voice-over by Barry Pepper.
How to Change the World starts by telling the story of how Hunter left the Vancouver Sun to spearhead a ragtag group of Canadians sailing to Alaska to stop a U.S. nuclear test. Their anti-war, proecology stance resulted in their name: Greenpeace.
Looking for another cause to support, Hunter decided to save the whales — an idea his confederates, in interviews today, say they thought was daft, although in hindsight it was brilliant. The image of a tiny dinghy facing down a Soviet harpoon ship has become one of the green movement’s most potent.
Hunter understood the power of electronic media in an age before fax machines, let alone the Internet. Still, he stumbled when Greenpeace went to Newfoundland to deter seal hunters by painting their prey’s fur green. After hearing the economic plight of the hunters, he unilaterally decided to back off, which didn’t sit well with the rest of the group.
The documentary explores the clash of egos that can occur when even the best-laid plans start to become bigger than any one man or woman. Hunter agonized over his role as leader, and eventually ceded partial control to others, not least the outspoken Paul Watson, without whom no history of Greenpeace is complete.
Recent interviews find Watson and former Greenpeacer Patrick Moore (now a climate-change denier!), still sniping at each other; none of which changes the fact that the group achieved some incredible feats, and continues to inspire activists. In fact, the genius of this documentary is that it manages to somehow air much of the group’s dirty laundry without staining their reputation.
Messy human relations and high-minded ecological ideals can indeed go hand-in-hand.