Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie

By Gabriella Moreno

 Very unlike our preconceived notions of what a documentary is Force of Nature isn’t a movie about facts and truths. It has a mission: to raise awareness and provoke action. Using Dr. Suzuki’s The Legacy Lecture as a frame the audience is constantly moving across different times in history, not only of human kind but also of the universe. Moreover portraying Dr. Suzuki’s life, Force of Nature spells out the evolution of an ideology that proposes the possibility of a better world. As a renowned and accomplished leader of the environmentalist movement, Dr. Suzuki challenges the way the world is managed. He compares economy to myth. His claim is that men have exchanged their beliefs of dragons and werewolves for the rise and fall of the stock market. Both are creations of men – myth and economics – therefore if one doesn’t accomplish its purposes we should be able to change it. Beyond the intense and serious manner with which the cruciality of the issues presented is approached throughout the film, Dr. Suzuki doesn’t leave out his personality and gives the audience a fair amount of entertaining and comedic breaks. The original footage from the 70s also opened an opportunity for nostalgic laughter. Dr. Suzuki serves as proof of the possibility of living a fulfilling life by respecting nature and being involved in taking action towards the common well-being of humankind .Force of Nature is a movie that has a message that needs to be shared to a larger audience.

Our experience left us with hope, peace of mind, and thinking “how wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”