Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America

I found this movie quite interesting because, despite having considerable interest in conservation myself, I didn't know much about the history of the movement. Although the movie focuses specifically on David Brower, his actions play with or against the perspectives of the Sierra Club, the American government, various business interests, and the population at large, and one can trace the philosophical and political emergence of the movement as a whole. Brower himself seems to have led a fascinating life, and it's interesting to see how his experiences contributed to his convictions, while admiring his prodigious ability and insight. It's downright inspiring to see his confidence in an age when wilderness protection was not just unimportant, but undesirable. For me the most interesting parts were archival footage of films Brower and his opponents made which promote either conservation or development, but to a modern viewer more than anything express the tenor of the time which seems so different from our own. Also nice is the footage that is no longer possible to film: that of Glen Canyon, now submerged due to a compromise Brower made early in his career, which he never forgot and which shaped to a great extent where he went from there.

For someone like myself, who spends most of his time in movie theaters, the natural world may hold little importance on a daily basis. That said, there is one scene in this film where the tallest existing redwood tree is cut down for pulp that caused me to flinch as a human being. You never really know your connectedness to the living world till you actually see it being destroyed.

And that's where David Brower became a master of influence, by bringing Pres. John F. Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson (then pres. LBJ's first lady), and other influential politicians into the natural world. When part of the Grand Canyon was set to be flooded Brower immediately started river-rafting tours of the canyon to show people why it shouldn't be flooded.

And when the flooding advocates remarked that flooding the canyon would allow for boating, recreation, and easier access to the rim, Brower created the now-famous advertisement: 'Should we flood the Sistine Chapel to get closer to the the ceiling'.

This documentary incorporated decades of footage shot by Brower during his long reign at the Sierra Club including several excerpts from feature documentaries made by Brower do drum up public support for the cause. By the end of this film it's undeniable that the natural world is worth more to us as human beings than it will as shopping malls, wood pulp, and dams.

Check this out and be prepared - you may become an eco-activist when it's all over!