By Fritz Lang (1927)

IMDb: “Fritz Lang’s groundbreaking landmark remains one of the biggest mysteries in the world of cinema. How can a movie that’ll soon turn 80 years old still look so disturbingly futuristic?? The screenplay by Thea Von Harbou is still very haunting and courageously assails social issues that are of all ages. The world has been divided into two main categories: thinkers & workers! If you belong to the first category, you can lead a life of luxury above ground but if you’re a worker, your life isn’t worth a penny, and you’re doomed to perilous labor underground. The further expansions and intrigues in the screenplay are too astonishing to spoil, so I strongly advise that you check out the film yourself. It’s essential viewing, anyway!

“Metropolis” is a very demanding film-experience and definitely not always entertaining. But, as it is often the case with silent-cinema classics, the respect and admiration you’ll develop during watching it will widely excel the enjoyment-aspect. Fritz’ brutal visual style still looks innovative and few directors since were able to re-create a similarly nightmarish composition of horizontal and vertical lines. Many supposedly ‘restored’ versions have been released over the years (in 1984 and 2002, for example) but the 1926-version is still the finest in my opinion, even though that one already isn’t as detailed and punctual as Lang intended it. “Metropolis” perhaps is THE most important and influential movie ever made. “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Star Wars” and “Blade Runner” owe their existence (or at least their power) to it.”

Animation by Vanzo (1995)

I have a VHS tape collection of the show’s segments that aired on MTV’s “Liquid Television” years ago. Julie the social worker lives in a rundown apartment and deals with the mean streets of the city. She gradually gets in touch with her subconscious and spirit animal in the Pangean Outback. Together, she and the masked man(?) Maxx battle the serial rapist and killer Mr. Gone (see Wikipedia for more details). I like to pair The Maxx with a reading from Grumbine’s Ghost Bears (about the biodiversity crisis) and exercises structured upon Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre vs. Theatre of the Oppressed.

Produced by Melvyn Hopper

See http://www.lifewithprinciple.org/, sponsored by the Thoreau Society http://www.thoreausociety.org/. The DVD costs $250 for educational use and includes:
The 56-minute film, Life with Principle, which features commentary that follow six themes present in Thoreau’s writings. The themes are:

Hearing That Different Drummer

Being Awake, Aware, and Alive

Examining Desperate and Deliberate Lives

Living in Society

Living in Nature

Confronting the Mean and the Sublime

Thoreau’s Concord, a 12-minute historical documentar that follows the same themes to explore both Concord and Henry David Thoreau s place in it.

Profiles in Civil Disobedience, a 12-minute examination of this philosophy as practiced by Wangari Maathai in Kenya, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi in Japan, and Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

World Leaders, a 4-minute glance at the impact of Thoreau’s writings on Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Daisaku Ikeda, as well as on Life with Principle speakers Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg, and Howard Zinn.

The Boat Men: Bill and Ben, an animated short that is certain to stimulate discussion of the six themes.

A 16-page Study Guide, intended to provide an overall plan for implementing all of the Life with Principle materials.

A 51-page Thoreau Curriculum that details teaching strategies, relevant activities, and recommendations for further study.

An 11-page Commentary written by Thoreau scholar Bradley P. Dean (1954-2006). It reveals the origination of the six themes in Thoreau’s writings.

A full set of the Thoreau Society Bulletin, dating from 1941 to 2005, containing sixty years of articles about Thoreau’s life, literature, legacy, and the landscapes that inspired them.

The curriculum material was developed particularly for high school students, but the DVD would also be useful on the college level, particularly in lower-level environmental history courses that talk about Thoreau.

Kilowatt Ours is an inspirational and enlivening film that demonstrates how easy it is to conserve energy that is produced from traditional sources as well as the many ways the average consumer can easily become part of the renewable energy revolution. The film reveals the connection between personal choices and energy use and introduces us to individuals, businesses, schools and universities who have cut their energy use in half by taking simple steps that benefit the consumer, the environment and the economy.

www.progressivedvds.com ($25)

By Claude Berri (1993)

From IMDb: “The film is the rendition of Emile Zola’s 1885 novel of the same name examining the difficult lives of French miners. The movie, which on the whole remains true to the original story.”

By Lizius & Jungjohann (1990)

As a brief biography of Lovelock and his ecoscience, this should need no further description. But here it is, from Bullfrog Films: “The Gaia Hypothesis is one of the most exciting new scientific theories to emerge in the 20th century. It’s the work of a British scientist, James Lovelock, who believes that the earth is itself a living organism, and that life actively creates the environment it needs to survive, by maintaining environmental factors like temperature, humidity and atmosphere. His theory has been embraced by the environmental movement and has stirred up controversy in the scientific establishment.

Lovelock lives in the hills of Devon in southwest England. He’s a biologist, doctor, chemist, cybernetician, inventor, and author of science fiction. In this video portrait we meet the man at his home and workshop, and visit the Marine Biological Laboratory in Plymouth, which conducts marine research, that has produced some amazing results, apparently confirming major parts of the theory.

The Gaia Hypothesis gives us a completely new view of the evolution of the Earth and may well be an incredibly productive tool for studying the complex ecological interrelationships that allow life to exist on our planet.”

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world’s food system. The film also explores alternatives to largescale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/ ($16.99 DVD@ amazon.com)

By McLeod, Bullfrog Films (1984)

From the Bullfrog Films website: “This renowned student Academy Award-winning documentary examines the social, cultural, and environmental impact of energy development in the Southwest U.S. The film takes its title from a National Academy of Sciences report which concluded that strip-mining in the fragile arid environment could permanently damage the land, resulting in “national sacrifice areas.”

The film explores the hidden cost of uranium mining and milling, coal strip-mining, and synthetic fuels development in the “Golden Circle of National Parks” — the homeland of Hopi, Navajo, and Mormon cultures.”

This video shows audiences how to declare their independence from the epidemic of rampant consumerism and materialism ailing Americans and our environment by adopting the practices of simple living. Like AFFLUENZA, this sequel uses expert commentary, thought-provoking vignettes and humor to show how people can reduce their consumption and simplify their lives. With stories of real people from Seattle to the Netherlands who have altered their lifestyles and re-discovered the joy of living, ESCAPE FROM AFFLUENZA offers the antidote to debt, stress, time-pressure and possession- overload.

www.bullfrogfilms.com ($250) (can sometimes be found on amazon.com)

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness. Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today’s suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia ?

www.endofsuburbia.com ($21.99 @ amazon.com)