The Age Of Stupid

In 2055, long after the extinction of most of the human race, a long archivist (Pete Postlethwaite) navigates a computer database of news reports and documentary footage of mankind's failure to respond to the threat of global warming in the early 21st century, a period of deep denial he woefully calls "the age of stupid." Postlethwaite is a fascinating screen presence; his mouth hangs low on his long face in a permanent frown, while his eyes droop sorrowfully and his weathered skin has an air of weariness. In his own sad, tired way, he's the perfect man for a cautionary documentary. An obvious point of comparison for any modern environmental documentary is An Inconvenient Truth. That film was more focused about explaining step-by-step what global warming is, proof that it is a threat and what we can do to reverse it. The Age of Stupid is somewhat less coherent, but also more ambitious, going after a broad spectrum of environmental concerns (overdependence on fossil fuels, the proliferation of cheap airline flights, even bottled water) to create the cumulative effect of an era with its head in the sand. Comprised mostly of archival news and documentary footage, the film mixes true-life stories with animated interludes, interviews and a reasonably vivid dystopian future, all while endlessly repeating "2015," the year when carbon emission increases may make global warming irreversible, like a mantra. It is an alarming film not only because of its evidence, but also for its tone. The Age of Stupid plays like a movie that knows all about In Inconvenient Truth and is anguished that still nobody is doing anything about it. The disc contains no extras.