User reviews

The End of Suburbia neatly collects many of the concerns with the coming "Peak" of the world's oil supply. As the world population grows, so does demand for oil and power. As we extract oil and power, we come to a "peak" in production. More oil is demanded, less oil is generated. The inevitable outcome is conflict, and major change.

This film will be disturbing, and alarming if you're new to the topic. You may react at first with anger and denial because the implications are so grim. It should be required viewing. Beyond politics, beyond optimism, the math is undeniable.

Suburbia is the focus, because our suburban living areas will be the communities most impacted when the price of energy skyrockets. While intuitive logic would tell you that the big cities will be the places to avoid during a time of crisis, the spread out nature of suburbia will make it difficult if not impossible to maintain an efficient community without our vehicles to transport us.

Peak oil is no longer a topic for discussion by survivalists and backwoods crazies. This issue will be at our doorstep sooner than we think. This film is a lucid, coherent look at it.

A truly scary film. Happening across curmudgeon James Kunstler's rants led me to recently-formed web logs like Life After the Oil Crash (LATOC), Energy Bulletin, and The Oil Drum, and the data behind the theory of Hubbert's Peak. Like this film, LATOC and Kunstler paint a grim picture of die-off or die-back. I hope they're premature, but in mid-2005 rising gasoline prices, rising oil prices, Chevron's Will You Join Us campaign, BP becoming Beyond Petroleum and even T Boone Pickens lend credence to the idea that we are at or near a peak of oil production.

After copious research of limited data, oil investment banker Matt Simmons has suggested that the Saudis may no longer be able to increase production in their immense, but aging fields. In the face of increased demand (primarily from the US and China), the Saudis have not responded with higher production, despite previous assurances. Stated world production from 2000 and 2004 indicates that light, sweet crude has indeed peaked. which means that refining will become more costly.

The film seems aimed at baby boomers, but younger people, our children, also need to understand the implications of an energy-depleted future.

This documentary was my first introduction to Peak Oil theory. A fascinating concept that has a lot of frightening consequences if it turns out to be correct. I had absolutely no idea that the effects of oil depletion would come so soon, it literally took my breath away. This movie will probably open your eyes as to how strongly the American way of life is dependent on the "abundance of cheap oil" - a term used throughout the film. A lot of the topics are plain common sense, and they don't go into a huge amount of depth about any of them. But you've probably never put all the pieces together like this movie does. The interviews with the authors and energy experts are all very interesting. I don't think this film is meant to scare people. It's merely meant to inform people about what to expect in the years ahead, and maybe to encourage you to think twice about commuting 100miles to work and leaving your lights on all day long.

After watching this film I was no longer able to look at the cars and buses zooming by quite the same. Great documentary, everyone should see it.

I always knew the day was coming. We all knew. There's only so much oil in the ground, and one day we'll run short. But isn't there supposed to be enough coal to use instead? And wind power, or something. Things for future generations to worry about.

Then this documentary hit me smack between the eyes. Oil makes the fertilizer that is the reason for the first time in world history practically no one lives on farms. When the inevitable oil shortages hit, a lot of things -- air travel, many drugs, plastics, life in the suburbs -- will become impossible. But the craziest insight from the documentary is this: oil gives us so much energy with so little effort, that without it our lives must change. Even if substitutes and conservation are implemented immediately, at best they'll smooth our landing into a strange post-oil world which (the documentary claims) could be starting NOW.

Despite its gloomy message, the documentary is often highly entertaining. It contains fabulous historical footage (sober images of dark urban factories, and campy funny stuff from the 1950's) which reminds us of why we moved to the suburbs in the first place. It also offers hope that a massive effort started now could both ease our transition from oil and make the world a better place.

My only complaint about the documentary is that it does not spend time on the mystery of why we are finding this stuff out now. How can this be a big emergency all of a sudden? We knew in the 1970s we should be preparing for a post-oil world -- and we started to prepare with alternative energy research and smaller cars. If our failure to follow through on President Jimmy Carter's initiatives 25 years ago has doomed us to a hard landing in a post-oil world, why was no one shouting about it on soapboxes?

In the end I found the documentary highly persuasive; and it left me with the terrible chill of being dragged out of a very lovely dream. This is must viewing for everyone not afraid to face a very likely near future that we still have time to do something about.

• Charles

Well someone who enjoys traveling down the highway at 120kmph, eating McDonalds, and running the air conditioner twenty four seven, and watching Fox News non-stop, I found this documentary interesting. One thing I picked up, when they being they talk about North America, I assume this documentary was Fabrique Au Canadie. For the Canadian bashing I will leave that to Bill O'Reilly.

The consequence of the depletion of oil will affect everyone, especially those who live in big countries of Australia, Canada and the United States. I am sure that Green Peace are cheering no more gas, means no more SUVs, without realizing people who live in the sub zero temperatures could starve to death.

As someone who has studied economics, I know for a fact we are living in a world of finite resources. I will give the documentary props for trying to present a balanced point of view about the depletion of oil. However I am studying a degree in journalism, this documentary is full of loaded messages - Republican as warmongers. What the Democrats didn't send troops to Vietnam?

If you are going to present a documentary about economics and resources, it is best to leave the political bashing to one side, because it could cause a potential audience member to totally shut down. Concentrate on the issue of finite resources. At the end of the day, it is best to open the minds of the mainstream, as it is no good preaching to the minuscule choir.

I really do enjoy watching documentaries such as Fahrenheit 911, and End of Suburbia not for their political bias, because they do remind us the world isn't so safe. Sure I like to shop, and consumer junk food like there is no tomorrow, but if the world is going to end tomorrow I would rather die rich and consume the living beep out of it.

For the potential documentary makers out there, just give the people facts, and let the viewers make up their own minds. If you are trying package your political views as a balanced documentary the people are going to smell a rat a mile away.

I have the good common logical sense to know that oil cannot last forever and I am acutely aware of how much of my life in the suburbs revolves around petrochemical products. I've been an avid consumer of new technology and I keep running out of space on powerboards - so I know that even the energy crunch associated with Peak Oil will change my life appreciably.

The End Of Suburbia shows, in a rational and entertaining manner, just how much my whole family's lifestyle will have to change in my lifetime. I am particularly concerned for the future generations who will have to pick up the tab for our excesses, however the film-makers do offer a glimmer of hope in that they acknowledge human resourcefulness and determination - and the sense of community that tends to be engendered by shared hardship.

There is no point in trying to pretend that Peak Oil is baseless propaganda - or in treating it like the approaching radioactive cloud in "On The Beach" (i.e. with suicide pills at the ready). Even with our best efforts, times will get harder all over, and I'm hoping there's enough compassion and humanity to go around.

I own a Video store with hundreds of documentaries. I have seen loads of them and love all of the great info out there. Only a small handful though even come close to offering info as important as this one. I have been reading through other peoples reviews of this film and can't help but notice that the main things people are criticizing are irrelevant. Such as "It is very one sided" Such a pathetic criticism, every where in society that you look you will see the other side, and if you still need help go to globalpublicmedia.com. "It is the same people over and over" Uh one might be led to believe that these people are the experts, so maybe they are the best people to interview. "filming style is all the same, head shots with few exceptions" If you want flash and dazzle watch Micheal Moore if you want info watch real docs such as this one. As you can plainly see none of these complaints have any relevance to the information contained. My guess is that these people are just missing the point and don't wanna give up there SUV's.

My recommendation: Watch it. Learn from it, and continue your education about such subjects. It is very important stuff for EVERYONE.

A friend of mine works at an engineering company and has shown this to her office. She also holds a masters degree in energy efficient buildings (!).

This documentary focuses on energy issues, but there is so much more to counteracting suburbia (anti-social issues, global warming, etc).

I've read some negative reviews out there claiming there is a "junk science" to this documentary, but these reviewers do not provide any of their own "science" to back up their claims. Where is their documentary, "The Bottomless Well"? It's just as Kunstler says in the interviews - people will be very resistant to the idea suburbia will end. People tend to get hostile when their whole lifestyle has been put into question, and The End of Suburbia does that with efficiency and style.

Intead of changing lifestyles, many suburb dwellers will simply force the status-quo, and become very hostile to those like EOS blowing the whistle. Sad.

This documentary consists primarily of interviews of the same few people discussing the impending "peak oil crisis". Its viewpoint is a very one-sided gloom and doom perspective about the great changes that will be required in our lifestyles as oil production peaks and costs escalate. However, it suffers from a limited number of viewpoints, including some interviewees that seem too over-the-top to be credible. Also, it became tedious with the endless interviews of the same few people.

One point where it did break with the standard head-shot interview format was when it should a conference on energy depletion that took place in San Francisco. However, again, it was the same people presenting at the conference. And furthermore, the shots of the audience showed that it did not attract a business audience, but instead was filled with what looked like casually dressed locals. Obviously, the message here is just going out to the choir, and hasn't resonated with the general public.

The outtakes section contains some interesting 50s era promo pieces that are some of the better features of the movie.

The End of Suburbia is an important documentary about modern dependence on cheap energy and the coming peak in world oil production. The film is an excellent introduction to the peak oil phenomenon, and includes interviews with experts like adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 Energy Task Force. Mathew Simmons, author Richard Heinberg, "Powerdown - Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World" and author Michael T. Klare, "Blood and Oil - The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum.

"Economic growth is predicated upon more electricity. Electricity is predicated on hydro-carbon energy. Period. And Mathew Simmons made a very clear statement, he said: "Future growth is not possible". And for a guy from his background to say that was one of the most.. that's like the catholic church saying the earth is round before Galileo" - Michael C. Ruppert

"The peak has happened. And now, instead of being prophets, we're now historians." - Kenneth Deffeyes

The End Of Suburbia (TEOS) is a very useful film. It's also important and provocative. There seems to be no middle ground with either the film or its main source of entertainment, the anti-sprawl Meister, James Howard Kunstler.

While I am not a big fan of the New Urbanism, my criticism of it is because of its small vision. In the case of New Urbanist Peter Calthorpe - another talking head - you finally hear what's somewhat obvious in and amongst the special added TEOS out-takes... Calthorpe just doesn't understand peak oil.

I've used this as a teaching tool in economics classes to get at the importance of land as a factor of production - a fact long diminished by Neoclassical Economics - and also as a vehicle for educating about: peak oil, our wastrel land use, global warming, our threatened food production, public transit our compromised future

Move over South Park! .... Made by Canadians from Toronto for $25,000 and released in May 2004, this video sold over 24,000 copies by October 2005. One major DVD rental vendor recently ordered almost 400 more copies.

The End Of Suburbia sales were actually climbing 1 1/2 years after its release and it has also been available on one of the major online video services since September 2005.

A sequel, Escape From Suburbia, is in the works with a possible release by August 2006.

A good documentary reviewing the background behind our societies oil addiction, the problem concerning our present energy usage and finally discusses the effects of the coming energy deficit originating from the peak oil production problem.

This movie should be educated to all students as part of their education. Show it to your children, parents, relatives and friends. They will thank you eventually.

After reviewing the contents of this documentary and comparing its mentioned sources I would say that the facts in this movie are well scientifically supported.

I'm giving this film 9 out of 10 only because there aren't enough specific scientific references to the amount of energy it takes to produce food to satisfy the science haters. mdixon seems to believe the admittedly biased commentators are making this stuff up, but even an elementary understanding of resources and the laws of thermodynamics will indicate that at the very least, they are on solid scientific ground when they state that we cannot continue to depend on oil, we must transition to different types of energy, and do not have a plan that will replace the amount of energy we get from oil. Other civilizations have refused to face the facts of life, and have perished. Read Jared Diamond's "Collapse" which is a popular book, or any elementary Ecology or Earth Science textbook and you can verify the basic premise of this movie. Go ahead, fiddle while Rome burns!

I was recommended this movie by my professor in an Intro to Urbanism class at a Canadian university. I was expecting a fair and balanced analysis of why suburbia is going to end, voiced by professional planners, theorists, and scholars. What I got was a bunch of anti-oil, doom-saying, fear-mongering talking heads who, as far as I could tell, had no association with any universities, government organizations, or think-tanks. The most professional speaker involved was a consultant for the oil companies. Each person featured in the film either had a book to sell on the subject of anti-oil or otherwise had an interest in the field.

That said, I find this film more in line of those by Michael Moore and less of actual documentaries. Fair and balanced this was not. Now I do enjoy Moore's films, but calling them "American History" is a bit out of line, the same way this film stretched it's educational worth. The amount of fear-mongering and doom-saying involved was enough to seriously anger me at the film. I was severely upset at how low these pundits stooped to get an emotional reaction.

And they barely made you feel any better about the future. Between a depression we will never escape to visions of a oil-depleted Holocaust they really didn't give the viewer any hope about the alternatives. Personally I feel that rising oil prices will make environmentally progressive energy sources look more appealing to the energy companies, which is a very good thing. Needless to say this film didn't affirm my positive views of the future.

So, if you want an emotionally charged, propaganda-esq film filled with "holier than thou" individuals who probably also believe JFK was killed by aliens, this may be for you. But if you want a serious, educational film about the how's and why's of suburbia's eventual decline, stay away. Needless to say this film pushed my buttons, and not in the ways I wanted.

In addition to consumption of very limited resource, there are other factors: pollution, eating species into extinction and massacre of environment happens on global scale: sacred and very needed by life on Earth trees are being massacred by human predator. Gold mining, illegal tree cutting, illegal ranching in Amazon already destroyed a lot of sacred trees. Films: "AMAZON with Bruce Perry", "The End of the Line (2009)". Most vicious predator (human) must learn to stop destroying its own environment. Nature and animals disappear at exponential (unbounded) rates while most vicious predator (human) multiplies exponentially (without bounds). Most vicious predator must stop unbounded (exponential) reproduction: it leaves no space for healthy environment for most vicious predator and leaves no space for animals. CONSUMPTION is not "cool" anymore, no matter what it is: consumption of oil, food, or of any other very limited remaining resources.

A series of interviews with more-or-less subject matter experts on M. King Hubbert's Peak Oil (production raite) postulate. The interviews are glued together with segments using amusing archive footage (probably Internet downloads) overdubbed with narration.

This was my introduction to Peak Oil and it did make me curious to know if was fact or fiction. My reaction was "is this 'censored' true?"

Pros: it's convincing enough to make someone want to know more. It moves along at a good pace, it didn't seem to drag on at all to me.

Cons: It contains only introductory matter to what can seem like a simple concept, however if you start to examine that concept it's very complex. The interviewers basically guess about what the future holds.in some ways. It seems to me that the complexity of the issue makes it hard to have accurate predictions. For instance, will the suburbs really bear the brunt of the Peak Oil blow, or is the fact that there is land that can be recovered for use in a post-peak world make The End of Cities more on target?

My review covered the documentary 'The End of Suburbia'. This documentary is about the end of the modern suburbs thanks to the end of cheap oil. It covers many different aspects of this topic. These topics are layout for the viewer to understand the issues. I want to begin the review with an analysis of quality of the film. The first topic is the about how suburbs come about. Then the next subject is the unfortunate fact about oil. Finally, the documentary talks about 'New Urbanism' as a way help ease the issue. I found the documentary to be very interesting.

I think the film is well produced and setup. It is highly organized with a chronological movement. The video does features abstract shots of television and particular the news with the interviewees talking over it. Various music tracks are used in the film. The music is used to make light of certain situation and a creepy soundtrack is used to express the direness of peak oil. The film is well shot in the best way a 'Talking Head' documentary can possible be. It features many interviews with several important people in the peak oil field. This includes Matthew Simmons, Richard Heinberg, Michael Ruppert, and James Howard Kunstler. Their interviews are cut throughout the documentary. They seem very 'Dooms Day' oriented. All of their predictions are apocalyptic in nature and I can clearly see their negative ideology. The film kept my interest with its content and pace.

The first topic is the about how the suburbs come about. According to the documentary suburbs came about because the city had a low quality of life and technology gave people a way out. First it was the train, then the street car, and followed by the automobile. The automobile has helped to bring about the suburban dream. The government and the auto companies worked to together to help make the car the new form of mass transit.

Then the next subject is the unfortunate fact about oil. The way we built the suburbs are entirely depend on cheap oil. Cheap oil is the blood in the veins of America. The movie provided several fun facts about oil like when oil was first discovered in Texas it was cheaper than drinking water. The unfortunate reality is that oil peaked in the 1970s and this was predicted by the geologist Dr. M. King Hubbert. He saw it coming and people ridiculed him. They said his predictions were a joke because that year oil production was at its highest. The people who doubted Hubbert's prediction were in the year of peak oil. This peak oil stuff is very scary and really sent shock waves down my spine. Finally, the documentary talks about 'New Urbanism' as a way to help ease the issue of peak oil. The 'New Urbanism' is a movement that started in the 80s and seeks to create more walkable cities setups. The ideas want to bring back the old style of planning, which the great American cities were built upon. The demand is actually higher for these areas. The documentary talks about a new development called Stapleton, which was developed along the lines of 'New Urbanism' and it sells at about 25% higher. People want a more walkable and neighborly place to live. I really liked how the documentary expressed the concept of 'New Urbanism'.

The topics presented are very interesting; suburban culture, suburban sprawl, public transportation, oil & gas depletion, energy dependence, alternative energy sources, etc.

The problem is that this is a pure and shameless propaganda piece. One viewpoint is presented, then hammered upon the viewer over and over. You see the same handful of 'experts' repeatedly making their case. The supposed 'narrator' starts off sounding like a news reporter, but by the end even he is preaching the film's dogma.

The dark side of the film is not so much the gloom and doom message about oil depletion, but the sense that the folks in the film are actually wishful for a post-oil society and all that it entails. They paint this picture of a utopian society where we all return to the self-contained local village model; walk to work, shop locally, grow our own food, and generally live an idyllic 19th century lifestyle. For them, the post-oil society would seem a grand vision of a better world. It would certainly spell the end of globalization, and better still, the end of Walmart. I will give them some credit for applying actual math in exposing the weaknesses of several over-touted alternative energy sources, including ethanol and hydrogen.

I gave it 3 stars because I appreciated the old footage and the premise.

Doesn't anyone bother to check where this kind of sludge comes from before blathering on about its supposed revelations? Ask yourself a question: Is my skull an open bucket that I allow anyone to dump their propaganda into? Do yourself a favor and take a look at the bomb-shelter mentality of pathtofreedom.com before you waste your time with this screed.

These sorts of Mother Earth/People's Republic of Berkeley urbanite fruitcakes that openly despise a way of life only because it doesn't match theirs must believe their case fails miserably on facts and objectivity. Else why resort to willful distortion and blatant one-sidedness? Pathetic.

Don't be a sap. Take two seconds and cast a skeptical eye before falling for yet more 'end of the world' hysteria from it-takes-a-village types with a political agenda that's probably even to the left of your own. Mi. Moore (rather his unthinking followers) have really opened the floodgates with this kind of one-sided political trash passed off as a *cough* documentary. But apparently they understand the sentiment of an ever-gullible public: "If it's on a movie screen, it must be true."

God gave you a brain - act like you know what you're supposed to do with it...