Looking at Earth from space, we need to start to consider ourselves more as crew members, not passengers.
A Beautiful Planet is a 45 minute IMAX 3D film featuring footage filmed on the International Space Station by the astronauts stationed there. It was, of course, converted to IMAX & 3D after filming, since those cameras were not available at the space station. It goes by really quickly and features a compelling focus on Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut who’s still caught up in the wonder of her endeavors. But the real star is obviously the footage taken of Earth from space and it’s genuinely breathtaking. A massive hurricane, an unbelievably large thunderstorm system sweeping across Africa at night, the Northern Lights by night, a horizon shot of the magnetic shield that surrounds the earth . . . this stuff is incredibly beautiful and also really genuinely thought-provoking in a powerful way. The film ultimately makes its case about the danger of climate change, but it does so artfully and in a way that doesn’t feel overly preachy. It’s a movie that really just suffused me with wonder to the degree that I actually teared up at a couple of moments. If you can see it in IMAX 3D, do so; it’s still well worth a watch even without those elements. Narration by Jennifer Lawrence, by the way, and she does it well; it’s not the sleepwalking performance you often get when celebrities narrate these things. The film is a must-see, I think; it packs an awful lot of wonder, beauty and emotion into just forty-five minutes. 4 stars.
tl;dr – IMAX 3D documentary is only forty-five minutes, but packed with astounding images of Earth from space; compelling, beautiful and ultimately humbling and thought-provoking. 4 stars.