Before The Flood

Before The Flood is the 2016 climate change documentary narrated by and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The title is in reference to the Triptych oil painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch, which shows three panels on the inside, the left shows the meeting of Adam and Eve, the center is the world in excess and the right is a version of Hell. 

I thought I knew about climate change already but I found the film to be quite informative. Sometimes films like this can be a bit dry or boring but Leo did a good job in that he was able to travel the world and interview a number of different people, which kept my attention throughout.

Some of the places that he went to that I found interesting were, China, where he talked with leaders about their transition from highest polluter in the world, to their beginnings of transition to more wind and solar. He also went to India, where he had a bit of a tense conversation with a woman talking about their poor countries struggle with changing over from coal to renewable energy and how the US, as a global leader, needs to step up first before less developed countries would be inclined to join in.

Some of the more depressing parts were seeing the Island of Palau, where the effects of climate change can already be seen in the flooding of their island and their homes due to sea level rising. You also see what this destruction has done to coral reefs which is leading to starvation in certain parts of the world. One of Leo’s interviewers stated that in the last 30 years, 50% of the world’s coral reefs have been lost. In Indonesia they are experiencing the destruction of 80% of Sumatra’s rain forests for palm oil, which is used in food and cosmetics in the US.

Something that I also found interesting was that this documentary was created during Leo’s filming of The Revenant. He shared his first-hand experience on what climate change is doing to the world, because the cast and crew had to relocate from their set in Canada to finish filming in Argentina, since it was one of the last places in the world that still had snow.

The most impactful part to me was in the end were Leo interviewed an astronaut who said, the ice is melting, the world is warming, seas are rising. In a few decades parts the world will become drier with less food and water, in places where icebergs have stood for centuries, they will continue to melt and flood, and other parts of the world will get colder. He was however optimistic in a possibility to repair the trajectory that we are on, he talked about even simple changes like changing our diets, such as switching beef for chicken.

I found this documentary to be very well done with a lot of insightful information. Because of this documentary, I have been inspired to work on doing my part to make a better impact on this world. Hopefully anyone else who finds this subject interesting will take a look at the documentary and be inspired themselves.