The French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand is one of the great photographers working in our period. You have undoubtedly seen his photos as they are seen all over the internet and have been used in numerous other films.
He is probably now most famous for his wonderful film about our planet, called HOME, which was given a free internet release a couple of years ago. I featured that film earlier and another film with the same title as this one, but which is much shorter.
The film today was made prior to Home and features many of the same photographs, but it has no spoken narrative, it is simply wondrous images, with an illustrative and evocative soundtrack.
Nearly all of the photographs are taken from a position above the earth, usually from a balloon, and give the film a unique feel and perspective. But although the position is one, the subjects are many as the photographs have been taken all over the world over a period of maybe 30 years or more.
Sometimes the earth is seen as an abstract canvas, somewhat primeval, or patterned by unseen hands; sometimes we see people from above in their tiny landscapes, whether at home, at work or at play.
Watch this film and you will see the world in a new way, and you will see the people and creatures in the world in a new way also. If you enjoy the film then I highly recommend watching HOME also which is more explicit in it’s message: this is our beautiful world, and we are destroying it with our greed, hatred and delusion.
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