Response Paper - The 11th Hour

The 11^th Hour

The 11^th Hour written and directed by Leila and Nada Conners is clearly propagandistic and openly gives audience a call to action. However while their goal is to persuade the viewer to their point of view, a lack of story caused me to lose interest and not engage as much in the film as most likely the filmmakers would have hoped.

The film used several interviews combined with narration along with as many visuals possible to support the peoples’ statements and make them visually interesting. But after a while the film felt very repetitive. Basically, the film presented a great deal of facts about the negative state of the planet. But there was no story with a beginning, middle, or end to maintain my interest throughout the film. I realized after watching this film and trying to remember specifics that there were not many details that I could remember. Then when I compared this film to others and what I could remember from them I learned, again, that those documentaries that use examples, or in other words, stories to get their message across are more effective teachers. This film could have had a more powerful impact on me and others if the filmmakers could have found some sort of stories of families or specific animals to show the negative influence we as humans are having on the environment.

Thus while the film technically and visually was well done, the lack of a story caused me to not get as much out of this film as others which are based around stories. Therefore stories are powerful teachers and make films more impactful.