Surviving Progress may be harder than we think

By Ian Gregg

Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks have set the year’s standard high with Surviving Progress, a well-paced Canadian documentary that wants to make sure that modern civilization doesn’t self-destruct. Inspired by Ronald Wright’s bestseller A Short History of Progress, the film depicts trends of progress throughout history while warning of the negative consequences of humanity’s tendency to sacrifice long-term sustainability for short-term wants. Supported by a well-spoken cast of experts from a various areas of expertise — including David Suzuki, Ronald Wright and Margaret Atwood — the film puts forth a holistic view of a world in flux by considering economic, environmental and technological aspects.

Filmed on location in four countries, we see the story of the individual and how progressive deforestation in Brazil melds with the economy, how the struggle to improve quality of life in China strains the model of consumption even more, and how the cycle of debt in the Congo leaves it powerless to cure its plague of instability. Brazilian sawmill owner Enio Beata tells his story of dependence on the rainforest and the failure of the nation’s leaders to aid unemployment. “The biggest farmers are senators, deputies, colonels. They’re the ones destroying the Amazon forest. Them — not us.” The film’s score spooks as time-lapse scenes of inner city development, road construction, industrial farming and ant-like people play over engaging interviews with individuals like Beata that lead you to mistrust the very nature of our global economic agenda.

Though the ideas overwhelm at times, the cast of characters work together to cultivate the idea that “traps” lay within progress. According to the film, early humans strived to improve their hunting methods only to be faced with the extinction of their food sources — and now we face similar problems that affect us on a global scale. Wright emphasizes, “The difference between good progress, which improves quality of life, contrasts against bad progress, which can threaten the very existence of humanity.”

The past, present and future collide in this homegrown documentary feature. Although the weight of this film and the ideas it proposes may be heavy, Surviving Progress isn’t all doom and gloom like many other documentaries in the genre. Instead of cutting the film off early to emphasize our species’ despair, it goes on to present optimism. Jane Goodall closes on an encouraging note: “When humans have their backs against the wall, they work exceptionally well together.”

Sure to be a conversation starter, Surviving Progress gives you a reason to get yourself to the cinema as soon as possible — but in a sustainable way, of course.

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