“In 200,000 years on earth humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly 4 billion years of evolution.  The price to pay is high, but it’s too late to be a pessimist: Humanity has barely 10 years to reverse the trend, become aware of the full extent of its spoilation of the Earth’s riches and change its patterns of consumption.”

This is the official synopsis of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s breathtaking documentary, “Home,”  an ambitious, uncompromising, and sobering work of social alarmism that chronicles humanity’s once delicate, symbiotic alliance with planet earth that has, fueled by unmitigated consumerism and mankind’s insatiable appetite for luxury, degenerated into an exploitative and parasitic relationship.

“Home” is the first ever feature film comprised entirely of aerial footage, and the second widely released documentary about our planet this year.  The first was Disneynature’s “Earth,” a film I very much enjoyed, made up almost entirely of clips from the spectacular BBC series, “Planet Earth.”  Although Disneynature’s offering boasts some of the most unflinchingly beautiful imagery every committed to celluloid, “Home” is the better film.

Glenn Close narrates our soaring journey through the most dramatic and heartbreaking narrative arc I’ve ever witnessed. The opening minutes of the film are so alive with such vivid and stunning imagery in such a way that traditional, fictional cinema is incapable of reproducing. As I stared in awe at the sweeping plains, majestic rock formations, silken wetlands, and lavish tropical forests, I felt a very deep and personal connection with the giant, spinning mass on which I live. But the earth, the most magnificent and astonishing miracle in the known universe is literally dying. My earlier joy and enthusiasm for the wonders of this spectacular planet quickly dimmed as the photography shifted from the unimaginable beauty of pristine, unspoiled landscapes to horrific images of depleted rain forests, filthy oil tankers, and unbelievably over-populated communities living in nauseating squalor.

Its message is simple but brutal–change, and change now. We must either radically alter the way we consume or within ten years the damage we have inflicted on this planet will become irreversible and our fate will be sealed.  It is a moral punch to the gut.

The narration is preachy and filled with unsubstantiated statistics, but if even half of its claims are true then we are in the most dire of straits and its heavy-handedness is justified.  And apparently the filmmakers practice what they preach.

According to goodplanet.org, the helicopter used for filming 488 hours of unedited footage from 54 countries around the globe spewed fewer toxins into the atmosphere than a single, empty airliner flying from Los Angeles to Paris.  And further, all the CO2 emissions caused by the making of the film were meticulously calculated and offset by sums of money used to provide clean energy to those who have none.

“Home” is a magnificent achievement of the best kind of propaganda.  It awes, horrifies, and inspires, and should be seen by all who call this planet home.