Are We Really This Stupid?

Pete Postlethwaite, the man whom Stephen Spielberg called the greatest actor on the planet, stares at you, an expression of resigned despair on his face. Behind him is an archive of all the greatest achievements of humanity, kept optimistically for whoever might one day find it. He speaks: "We could
have saved ourselves. But we didn't. Amazing. What state of mind were we in to face extinction and simply shrug it off?" It is the year 2055 and Pete is looking out from a watery North Pole over a dying planet, trying to figure out where we went wrong by scanning archive footage from our time.

That is the premise of a new feature length documentary on climate change soon to hit cinema and television screens all over the country. Its director is Franny Armstrong, previously known for the film McLibel about two campaigners who took on the corporate giant McDonald's and won. She stopped off to give us a preview of the film and answer some questions.

But first a few words from Pete himself, star of In The Name of the Father, Brassed Off and The Usual Suspects. He confessed to being moved to tears after watching a screening of the whole movie for the first time with the All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group of MPs in a packed Westminster room. "I was stunned. That you could pack so much information into a film that was so exciting, moving, and keeps you engaged all the way through," said Pete. "Spielberg, eat your heart out at the first 10 minutes!" This opening is a mind-blowing animation that takes you through the history of the world right up to the year 2055. But why did Pete want to get involved with the movie? "It's in the last two or three years that I have felt I really seriously needed to do something about global warming. That's why I had no hesitation when the call came through to get involved with this film. I think it will make people think and debate. It's not preachy in any way or polemical."

About half of the film follows six subjects round the world, whose reaction to climate change in different ways embodies many of the contradictions that we each face in our daily lives. How did Armstrong choose the six subjects? "I divided the film up into six main themes: consumption, war, climate change, alternatives etc. Then we had a team of researchers exploring all the possibilities within those themes until, over several months, we narrowed it down to a particular country and a particular story: eg. a low-cost airline starting up in India or a French mountain guide who is old and has grand-children. Each of the characters were a thousand times more interesting and nuanced than I could ever have imagined."

Is there anything missed out by these examples? "The two angles I would have liked to include are the top-level political manoeuverings which prevent real action on climate change and the behind-the-scenes shenanigans at a major multinational oil corporation. But clearly we didn't have a hope in hell of getting decent access to anyone like that, so we had to weave them in through the animations and archive."

How did the idea for the film come about? "The original plan, back in 2002, was to steal the structure of Stephen Soderberg's movie "Traffic": six human stories on all sides of a complex international issue. His was fiction and drugs and ours was going to be documentary and oil / climate change. We had a pretty much finished the film about a year ago, but when I sat back and watched it, I just didn't think it was good enough. So we decided to introduce the fictional element - set in the future - to amplify and explain the significance of our six human stories set in the present day." How did Pete Postlethwaite get involved? "I Googled him. He was in the middle of trying to get planning permission for a home turbine, which he told me last week has now been installed. When I read that, I thought we may just have a chance of persuading him. And we did!"

The film is an excellent attempt to be accessible to people who have only a limited knowledge of climate change. Armstrong would like it to be a campaigning tool: "We want to be part of the sea change in awareness which leads to the greatest ever public uprising which in turn forces the world's Governments to make a binding international agreement to cut global emissions so as to stabilise global temperatures below two degrees and keep the planet habitable for humans and other species."

Does Armstrong really think that we have any chance of turning things around? She replies by referring to her experience with McLibel. "When we were working on McLibel (the film, the website and the court case) we never for a moment thought we would have any actual influence on McDonald's. We just did it as a point of principle and because it was a story worth telling. So ten years later, when their profits collapsed, there was a sea-change in public awareness about healthy eating and the laws about advertising junk food to kids were changed, we were flabbergasted. So immovable mountains can be moved."

The producers calculated the carbon footprint of the film, which was financed by a share issue. What was it and are the producers offsetting it? "It added up to 94 tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to four Americans for a year or 185 gas patio-heaters for one month. I definitely think our film is worth 185 patio heaters for a month. No, we're not offsetting it, that is self-deluding nonsense."

What did the MPs think of the film? According to Producer Lizzie Gillet, "A parliamentary insider told me that the only other event, other than select committees, he's seen so well attended in the past year was the Campaign for Real Ale, where they give out lots of free beer! The MPs had a good debate afterwards and posed some interesting questions but I don't think I could easily categorise their reaction. One MP (who shall remain unnamed) said that while he shouldn't advocate it what we really need is a new green militant movement....."

The Six Subjects

●    Fernand Pareaux, 82 year old glacier guide at the Mer De Glace, "Sea of Ice" glacier in the French Alps.
●    Jamila and Adnan Bayyoud, Iraqi refugees who fled to Jordan after their father was killed by the Americans.
●    Layefa Malemi, who lives in one of West Africa's most oil-rich regions but her village has no drinking water, electricity or healthcare. The film follows her struggle to get to medical school.
●    New Orleans oilman, Al Duvernay, who rescued more than 100 people after Hurricane Katrina.
●    Jeh Wadia, who is setting up a low-cost airline in India. The film follows the airline from start-up to its first million passengers.
●    Piers Guyis a wind farm developer fighting local anti-wind campaigns so he can build windfarms around the UK.