I spent about three hours of my life watching the British-Canadian 2-part miniseries "Burn Up" on TV last night. I probably could have spent this time better, but I did enjoy this political/environmental thriller, even if it admittedly was a bit heavy on exposition. The thriller deals with climate change and peak oil, and has terrific production value - must have cost quite a bundle to shoot! It moves from the desert to the arctic, from London to Calgary, and have hundreds of extras in the crowd scenes outside as well as inside the conference hall where the Kyoto II-agreement is negotiated.
I also learned new facts: while I knew about "peak oil" (being an ardent watcher of CBS 60 Minutes), I had not heard about Methane Hydrate ("burning ice") before, but a quick search on the web provided several articles with scientific backup - yikes! The gas has been trapped in the permafrost and seabeds for centuries, but as the ice melts, it will be released - and it has a greenhouse-effect at least 20 times that of the oft-maligned CO2. Now that is more scary than any serial-killer or monster movie!
Well, how about the drama itself? Heavy on exposition, as I mentioned, but in part it is a necessity with a topic of this kind, and partly I am nerdy enough to enjoy it - I love learning new facts. (And info on the net supports these facts, so it seems the writer Simon Beaufoy did his homework; thank you for that!)
Bradley Whitford, one of my absolute favourite actors from "The West Wing", steals the show as the tough oil lobbyist Mack who surprises us at the end. When he realises that Tom, the fresh-faced new oil company CEO (played by Rupert Penry-Jones) is in danger, his face tells a whole (surprising) story without exaggerating. Bradley Whitford can play both the good guy and the bad guy credibly.
However, I cannot imagine Rupert Penry-Jones cast as a villain. I used to discard him as just another "pretty face", but he managed to look so sad in the TV-movie of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" that I've been won over. But Neve Cambell is quite dull as the "love interest" - the other two female parts, Tom's wife Clare and the inuit activist Mika Samuvai (played by Claire Skinner and Sandrine Holt respectively) are so much better, too bad their parts are so small. Watch Claire Skinner's face when she tells her husband that she knows of his affair (can you tell that I love acting done without words?).
Add to this excellent cinematography (Lukas Strebel was DOP) and competent editing, I quite enjoyed the show - so no, I do not think the three hours were wasted!
Do you have a favourite "film with a cause" that you can recommend?
/Kris C
Sample sources:
"Because methane is also a greenhouse gas, release of even a small percentage of total deposits could have a serious effect on Earth's atmosphere." from https://www.llnl.gov/str/Durham.html
Oj, vilken pretentiös blogg. Heja, Kristina!
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