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(France, 2009, 120 mins, 35mm)

English-Canadian Premiere

PRODS: Denis Carot, Luc Besson
SCR: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Isabelle Delannoy, Denis Carot, Yen Le Van
CAM: Tanguy Thuad
ED: Yen Le Van
MUS: Armand Amar

A magnificently macro portrait of our planet's alarming state of health, photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Home puts the aerial imagery of his bestselling book, Earth From Above, superbly into motion... [The film] reveals the daunting and disturbing results of massive worldwide industrialization, which has transformed natural wonders into dangerously unnatural displays of global warming and scarcity. Published initially in French in 1999, Earth From Above featured a jaw-dropping collection of landscape photos taken by Bertrand from airplanes, helicopters and hot-air balloons. The quintessential coffee-table book went on to sell more than 3 million copies in 24 different languages, and was followed by an exhibition that traveled to 110 cities with nearly 120 million visitors. The lenser's first cinematic outing presents equally staggering numbers: It was shot over 217 days in 54 countries with three film crews working simultaneously across the globe. Each crew used a gyro-stabilized Cineflex HD camera loaded inside a helicopter, a technique that gives the images a roving, near-transfixing quality...

Scenario, co-written by the helmer with several collaborators, presents a succinct history of the Earth's evolution from a smoldering mass of minerals to its current overtaxed condition. Using the preserved farmlands of rural Africa to reveal how man once lived in harmony with nature, and then the colossal skyscrapers and artificial isles of Dubai to show to what absurd extremes man now dominates it, the pic tells a now-familiar story through imagery that has rarely been amassed to such perfection.--Jordan Mintzer, Variety

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