It's now 2021, and we're now more painfully aware of what happens when we ignore the things that are bigger than us, that can bring the world to its knees. When things go bad, there's a lot of finger pointing and very little of the responsibility that come from people of my generation angered by the warnings of people like Greta and Amir. On the other side, we know just how much greenhouse gases and black carbon goes away when we're forced to stay home.
The other review on this page reeks of an appeal to hypocrisy: it demands that people like Amir live as hermits - ignoring the fact that Amir took the time to go out and talk to real experts at the front lines of saving these reefs. Reefs around the world are dying, from man-made acts: a consequence of the homogenization of global culture. This is not exaggeration. Amir and his friends went around the world so we don't have to.
We know what happens to those who call for this living as the fallacy demands: it is equally dismissed for being detached and unfamiliar, where the call is to leave polluters alone.
Enough.
Does this small film make people with privilege feel uncomfortable? Most likely. Older people? Most definitely. Good. That anger is consistent with people being challenged with the harm that they do.
The most heartbreaking moment in the film comes when Amir comes home and asks the young ones in his family if they know what corals are. This is the level of ignorance we have to fight.
While it may be too late for people of my generation to recognize the damage we ourselves have wrought on the ocean, it's not too late for younger people like Greta and Amir. I only hope they never lose their spirit. They'll need it to rebuild the home we're destroying with our criminal ignorance.
