How To Let Go Of The World (And Love All The Things Climate Can't Change)

Pennsylvania documentarian Josh Fox's latest film, which focuses on communities fighting against political forces unwilling to curb climate change, and the human qualities that rising global temperatures can't destroy, is a sensitive and well-produced account of a complex situation, and succeeds in balancing its undeniably grim subject matter with moments of genuine humour.

The most striking aspect of the film is Greg King and Annukka Lilja's tight editing, which creates a sense of pace - even rhythm - which both drives the film forward and serves to knit together its various sections into a whole. Fox makes effective use of overhead drone shots to create a sense of expansive landscapes, and to show the extent of environmental devastation.

Fox's narration, frequently flowery and distracting, is probably the weakest part, and the most engaging segments are those which show the genuine relationships which he has built with his subjects, with many of whom he spends significant amounts of time and participates in their often dangerous activism. It is clear that this was a very personal journey for Fox, a fact which adds much to the impact of the film.

The people Fox meets on his journey are the real stars of the piece: from the indigenous South Americans covertly monitoring oil spills in the Amazon, to Aria Doe*, founder of an organisation supporting Queens residents made homeless by Hurricane Sandy, to the Pacific islanders blockading the coal port of Newcastle, New South Wales in wooden canoes. This is their story, and it is their courage and determination that make the film what it is, an experience that left me deeply moved and galvanized to take action.

* On the 7th April, 2017, almost a year after the film was released, Aria Doe passed away in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York City.