Streaming: Hulu
Warnings:
Explicit Language
Rating: TV-14
I Am Greta is an informative international documentary about the young climate activist Greta Thunberg. The film follows Greta as she makes her way to the United Nations Summit in New York from Sweden. Since Greta doesn’t fly, she travels by boat to get to New York, the sea voyage took 15 days. Even though Greta is an internationally known climate activist, the documentary does a wonderful job reminding the audience what kind of toll that takes on a person, let alone a teenager. The film was directed by Nathan Grossman and the cinematography was executed by Nathan Grossman as well. I Am Greta had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival and it was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Overall, the film received positive reviews, Rotten Tomatoes consensus reads, “Audiences might not learn anything new from I Am Greta, but its stirring chronicle of the young activist’s efforts is inspiring.” Through the editing, cinematography and collected footage, the film portrays the hardships Greta faces as an international climate activist who has been robbed of a normal childhood. The documentary takes the audience on a journey that explores what it’s like to be Greta and how much weight she holds on her shoulders at such a young age.
The collective footage of Greta speaking to the public is partially why this film is so successful. The speeches the film highlights show how determined Greta is and how passionate she feels about climate change. In addition to that it also shows the difficulty behind preparing for those public appearances and how they can oftentimes be disappointing. At one point in the film, Greta was really excited about being invited to a certain event and it turns out that they weren’t as passionate about climate change as she was. The documentary illustrates her frustration and disappointment in an interesting way.
The cinematography was executed by Nathan Grossman who is also the director of the film. I Am Greta is Grossman’s feature directional debut however, he has had some experience as a cinematographer for feature length films before. The cinematography in I Am Greta is personal and introspective of what Greta is thinking and feeling. The documentary approaches Greta’s emotions in an interesting way that exposes her feelings of isolation and sometimes sadness. At one point in the film, she is surrounded by people and her father is upset with her and urging her to take a break and eat something. She feels obligated to stay at the protest and insists on not taking a break, her father forces her to stop and eat something anyways. This is a part of Greta that the world doesn’t often see, but it certainly shows how much pressure she is under as an internationally known climate activist.
The editing is one of the most interesting elements of the film, it assists with the depiction of Greta’s emotions and struggles as a renowned individual at such a young age. The film juxtaposes Greta’s beautiful words with extremely aggressive press talking about her in negative ways which emphasizes what type of people Greta has to deal with on a daily basis. At one point of the film Greta is reading hostile and almost violent words written about her on the internet with her parents and she laughs in response while her parents look uneasy and disappointed. This type of deliberate editing assists with showing Greta’s strength while also highlighting how hateful the world can be, even towards a young girl. The editing also enforces the overall inspirational tone of the film because Greta keeps going no matter what anyone says about her, she knows herself and she knows she’s doing the right thing.
I Am Greta is a beautiful documentary that will make you want to reverse time in response to climate change. Greta’s beautiful words add to the worry that people should be feeling about our Earth’s future. This documentary might not teach you anything new about climate change, but it certainly paints an honest portrait of what it’s like to be a climate activist and how difficult that can be. Through the collective footage, intelligent editing, and mindful cinematography, I Am Greta captures what its wrong with politics when it comes to climate change. If you wish to be inspired to change the world for the better, I highly recommend I Am Greta.