Film Review - The Age of Stupid

This new eco-film is set in the year 2055. The world looks very bleak - London is flooded, Sydney is going up in flames, Las Vegas overwhelmed by desert. Pete Postlethwaite stars as a film archivist who is looking back at the last 50 years and wondering why we didn't do something to stop climate change while we had the chance.

Director Franny Armstrong (who also made ‘McLibel') cleverly uses real news reports and documentary footage to point out that right now we are missing massive signals that things are going catastrophically wrong. Looking back from the perspective of 2055 it seems so obvious that we really are living in ‘The Age of Stupid'.

I went along to the ‘People's Premiere' of this film, which was unique for two reasons - firstly it was the largest ever simultaneous launch of a movie in history, and secondly because it was 100% eco-friendly, relying almost entirely on green energy supplies and renewable resources. Each local cinema was linked with the main showing in a solar-powered tent in Leicester Square, and we were able to enjoy the atmosphere and listen in to a very lively debate following the film - I suspect Ed Miliband is still squirming!

The film itself is stunning - I was totally gripped right from the opening credits, and found myself close to tears at several points. It just seems to make the point so clearly and succinctly that we must take action now - or the consequences will be beyond comprehension. For me, however, the best part about the whole experience was that we are not left feeling that we are impotent - the film is just the starting point for a whole new campaign called ‘Not Stupid'.

The presentation ended as Pete Postlethwaite turned on a digital countdown to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which is due to take place in Copenhagen in December. This really is our last ever chance to get it right, so now is the time for every single one of us to become a climate change activist. Start by going to see this film, take your children, your friends, everyone you know. It really does bring home just how crucial it is to take action right now.

And for everything I do, I am now asking myself - is this ‘Stupid, or Not Stupid?'

For further information visit the website www.ageofstupid.net

Rachel