MERCHANTS OF DOUBT

 I went to see this film, Merchants of Doubt at the Watershed in Bristol last night. It's being shown as part of the Bristol Festival of Ideas. Based on the book of the same name co-written with Erik M. Conway in 2010 by Naomi Oreskes, professor of the History of Science and an affiliate professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She analysed nearly 1000 scientific journals to directly assess the magnitude of scientific consensus around anthropogenic climate change. Naomi was at the film to answer questions afterwards.
In the blurb it says,
" The US scientific community has long led the world in research on public health, environmental science and other issues affecting the quality of life. Their scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers....'

    The film maker Robert Kenner shows us the games and strategies played by the PR consultants who work for companies in the oil and gas industry and who use dirty tactics to discredit scientific claims. In the so-called 'interest of balance' these views get disproportionate air time on TV and Radio.  The sad irony is that the impact of man made carbon emissions on the arctic and climate change means that the melting ice cap makes it easier and cheaper for these companies to explore new oil and gas fields.    
     When asked by a young woman where can we find hope in the situation, Naomi replied that some hope lies with China, who are starting to address the issue of climate change because of the considerable political impact that pollution in the big cities has on the health of the inhabitants and voters.  She also cited pockets of good practice in British Columbia. New technology such as carbon capture is really important, as is carbon taxing, and even the Pope through his forthcoming encyclical message may have Catholic deniers moving to the moral high ground.
    Merchants of Doubt is not on general release but look out for it at arts centres and festivals. It's probably one of the most important films about the deniers of climate change v scientific evidence since Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

Last night I saw Oppenheimer's new film The Look of Silence. It's a disturbing documentary about a brother's search for the truth in 1965/6 Indonesia, when over a million so-called communists were massacred in sadistic killings during an army coup led by General Suharto. Adi is an opthalmologist and uses the offer of eye tests and new glasses to ask questions of the perpetrators, who seem to relish the retelling of their crimes without remorse. In fact, the drinking of human blood is celebrated as a cause for their longevity and strength. Interspersed are scenes with Adi's very old parents. His father blind and demented. His mother, washing and caring for him, sad and still grieving for her son murdered fifty years ago. 
        We constantly come back to the surreal image of a toothless perpetrator wearing the clunky glasses used to determine his prescription. The symbolism of sight-or lack of it- is used throughout, right to the end credits, where some of the film makers are listed as anonymous.  No doubt because many of the men interviewed are still in power in their communities. I was a young volunteer in Jakarta a couple of years later and so the film has particular resonance for me. Currently on general release I highly recommend The Look of Silence  to you.