Film Review: Robert Stone's 'Earth Days'

The early moments of the ambitious new documentary EARTH DAYS, directed by Robert Stone, replay excerpts of environmental warnings and prescriptions of eight presidents, from JFK in 1963 to George W. Bush in 2006. Though the film goes on to braid the stories of nine members of the movement to save Earth from its most destructive inhabitants, those flares of passion ironically sum up our nation’s long U-turn from progress to paralysis. The history that follows, leading to the first Earth Day in 1970 and beyond, is remarkable in many ways, but the string of rhetoric highlights a political process that, despite its victories and potential, too often amounts to fiery talk. It’s a sad reality the pre-title sequence personifies from the outset.

The activists and participants are then introduced, without their names at first, but with labels for their respective eco-roles, as Vanity Fair has done in its green issues of the recent past: The Conservationist (Stewart Udall,) The Futurist (Stewart Brand,) The Forecaster (Dennis Meadows,) The Biologist (Paul Erlich,) The Motivator (Hunter Lovins,) The Politician (Pete McCloskey,) The Organizer (Denis Hayes,) The Radical (Stephanie Mills,) and The Astronaut (Russell Schweickart.)
Interspersed between philosophical musings and personal reminiscences from interviews filmed almost 40 years after the modern environmental movement was born, the movie reviews years of hope, change and resistance. The institutional outcry and ultimate acceptance of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring- her literary cannonball catalyst for action- is covered, as are other pivotal works of social conscience and inter-disciplinary synthesis like The Population Bomb by Erlich, and The Limits to Growth, by Meadows.

There is startling archival footage from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s: kids being sprayed with pesticide (probably DDT)- apparently unfazed- while eating al fresco, technicolor model/housewives bestowing fetishistic displays of marketing affection on household appliances, excessive protesters smashing cars, and nude back-to-the-land-ers cheerfully gardening their plots. These striking visuals are contrasted by somber celebrity calls for action, dour newscasts, and solemn assessments of an unchecked future. Despite the nation’s enthusiastic accumulation of material possessions: The times, they don’t look light-hearted.

In an unfortunate parallel, the interviewees’ delivery is often flat and/or overly-serious, clouding the light of their intelligence and efforts. The idea of structuring the film around nine notable and successful witnesses to environmental history promises a wide view of the movement, but there is little energy to lift the breadth of material and perspectives folded into the 100 minutes, though Brand and Lovins occasionally provide much-needed levity. Starting early in the film, long awkward pauses coupled with uncomfortable-looking interviewees in statuesque poses delay the film from taking off, and set a pace that is sluggish overall.

However, the eldest featured witness/participant- Stewart Udall, former U.S. Representative and Secretary of the Interior under Kennedy and Nixon- invigorates this film most passionately, in a wonderful twist of expectations. He is a bit difficult to understand when off-camera (and subtitles would have been a great help, especially when his dialogue also competes with music,) but he is inspiring throughout, from his excited acknowledgement of Nixon’s role in key victories, to his boiling insistence that the degradation is ongoing. The unraveling of our natural strengths and treasures clearly riles Udall to this day, and will likely rile viewers.