The first image in the film is of the Great Gallery pictograph in Horseshoe Canyon (Utah), in Canyonlands National Park. The section shown depicts several tall, shadowed figures standing near a taller figure adorned with a crown. The next image is a close-up of a Saturn V rocket during its launch. The film fades into a shot of a desolate desert landscape. From there, it progresses to footage of various natural phenomena such as waves and clouds.
Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, director Louie Psihoyos assembles a team of activists intent on showing the world never-before-seen images that will change the way we understand issues of endangered species and mass extinction. Whether infiltrating notorious black markets with guerilla-style tactics, or working with artists to create beautiful imagery with unexpected animal subjects, "Racing Extinction" will literally change the way you see the world.
Le film tente de montrer comment la planète peut encore être sauvegardée et empêcher la disparition d’espèces ou encore la modification brutale et peut-être irréversible de notre environnement. L’action citoyenne par le truchement du choix des politiques lors de consultations nationales est-il une forme de réponse ?
Kopple initially intended to make a film about Kenzie, Miners for Democracy and the attempt to unseat Tony Boyle. When miners at the Brookside Mine in Harlan County, Kentucky went on strike in June 1972, Kopple went there to film the strike against Duke Power Company which the UMWA had helped to organize. The strike proved a more interesting subject, so Kopple switched the focus of her film.
In 2805, Earth is long-abandoned and covered in heaps of garbage leftover from decades of mass consumerism, facilitated by the megacorporation Buy 'n' Large (BnL). Seven hundred years earlier, BnL evacuated Earth's population in fully automated starliners, leaving behind WALL-E trash compactor robots to clean the planet for humanity's eventual return, however the plan failed and all the bots were shut off. Only one WALL-E robot remains active, and has developed sentience after so many years of life-experience. He manages to remain active by repairing himself using parts from other inactive units.
Thousands and thousands of stray and unwanted dogs are born into the world everyday. When these animals have nowhere to go and no one to care for them, it becomes a situation that society needs to make a decision about. Animal shelters have become one solution for the issue of these homeless animals, but then the question becomes, what do we do with them then? This question is controversial, in that not all of them can be adopted. As a result many animals are euthanized, a fate extremely controversial in itself.
In Los Angeles, November 2019, retired police officer Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is detained by officer Gaff (Edward James Olmos) and brought to his former supervisor, Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh). Deckard, whose job as a "Blade Runner" was to track down bioengineered beings known as replicants and destroy them, is informed that four have come to Earth illegally. As Tyrell Corporation Nexus-6 models, they have only a four-year lifespan and may have come to Earth to try to extend their lives.
Dr. Jennifer Conrad is a veterinarian who treats animals in Hollywood. She focuses on large exotic cats that are used in films, shows or living in animal sanctuaries. One of her patients is the fully declawed tiger who appears in the 2009 film The Hangover. Conrad finds that the cats she is working with are suffering greatly because of elective onychectomy surgeries, commonly known as declawing, that are being performed on them. Often these surgeries are undertaken with the intent on making the animal safer to work with, but, ironically, make the animals more irritable and can change their behavior.
The documentary focuses on the captivity of Tilikum, an orca involved in the deaths of three individuals, and the consequences of keeping orcas in captivity. The coverage of Tilikum includes his capture in 1983 off the coast of Iceland, and purported harassment by fellow captive orcas at Sealand of the Pacific, incidents that Cowperthwaite argues contributed to the orca's aggression and includes testimonial from Lori Marino, Director of Science with the Nonhuman Rights Project. Cowperthwaite also focuses on SeaWorld's claims that lifespans of orcas in captivity are comparable to those in the wild, typically 30 years for males and 50 years for females, a claim the film argues is false. Interview subjects also include former SeaWorld trainers, such as John Hargrove, who describe their experiences with Tilikum and other captive whales.
The overall plot of the film focuses on the interviews of former Secretary of defense, Robert McNamara, who was interviewed for about 20 hours by the director of the documentary, Errol Morris, through a special device called the "Interrotron" which projects images of interviewer and interviewee on two-way mirrors in front of their respective cameras so each appears to be talking directly to the other. Use of this device is intended to convey actual interaction with each other and direct eye contact with the viewer.
The documentary tells the story of four characters fighting to protect Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the world's last mountain gorillas, against war, poaching, and the threat of oil exploration. Following gorilla caregiver André Bauma, head park ranger Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo, chief warden Emmanuel de Merode, and the French investigative journalist, Mélanie Gouby, the film focuses on the natural beauty and biodiversity of Virunga, as well as the complex political and economic issues surrounding oil exploration and armed conflict in the region.
Cowspiracy est un documentaire d'importance majeure. Controversé, il se penche sur l'impact de l'élevage sur l'environnement. Kip Andersen, producteur et directeur du film, révèle des informations exclusives portant sur les politiques de groupes environnementaux comme Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, and Rainforest Action Network en plus de statistiques alarmantes sur les impacts que génèrent la consommation de viande.