Amazon and Extinction Rebellion have made a laudable short about the most urgent possible subject … but it makes no sense
Guardians of Life is a three-minute film from the director and environmental activist Shaun Monson, produced in collaboration with Extinction Rebellion and
Amazon Watch and starring the man of the moment: Joaquin Phoenix.
It delivers a tiny metaphorical microdrama to raise consciousness about the climate emergency. The message is: don’t give up, it’s not too late, the cause could not be better. In fact, you could argue that any film or media event that is not about the climate emergency is a waste of valuable time. And yet, bafflingly, the metaphor at the heart of this film is hackneyed and nonsensical. On its own figurative and dramatic terms, it doesn’t work. Those squeamish about spoilers had better look away now.