Human The Movie

Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a photographer and environmentalist who has produced numerous documentaries on the beauty of nature. He became an environmentalist and film director after working as a hot-air balloon pilot, where he discovered that he must raise awareness to preserving Earth’s beauty. A few years ago, Bertrand was stuck in a rural town in Mali after his helicopter broke down. During the wait, he started to talk to farmers in the village about their aspirations and their concerns about feeding their children. This discussion with the farmers left a lasting impression on Yann and it influenced him to make a documentary on the human condition. With funding from the United Nations and Google, Yann set out to discover what made us human. Over the course of three years, he filmed 2,000 participants in 60 countries and filmed five hundred hours of aerial footage. Each interview consisted of the forty questions covering on topics of family, religion, ambition, love, homosexuality, poverty, and war.  According to Yann, the purpose of the film is that“hopefully, it will be a film that opens the discussion.”

     Yann is trying to communicate that although we are different we share certain similarities. Human the movie attempts to show the darkness of mankind, but also the positives of the  human’s experience. Each participant is asked the same questions, but the stories told by each person shapes the film since the stories are unique to the individual. To enhance the stories told, the interviews are taken in a black background. The black background is used in order to allow the viewer to focus on the story being told and the emotions that the participant may have during the storytelling. During each scene, personal identifiers such as name or country are removed from the film because Yann wanted to viewers to focus on their similarities since he thought that personal identifiers would separate the audience from the speaker since  the audience would not feel strongly related to the issue being discussed and would instead focus on the differences. The aerial footage of cities and untouched landscape are used as breaks between the interviews and but also an emotional link between mankind and the Earth. Yann uses the aerial footages to show an uneven development in our society since some the images focus on the untouched natural beauty of the earth while some the images show the destruction of nature through the multitude of buildings or through overflowing landfills. Yann uses these images to address the question of our common future. Moreover, there is no narration during the film in order to show that participates are the narrators of their own lives through the stories that they told. The themes in the film are what separate us, unites us and politics. In the film, the stories told may be different from the viewers, but the topics being discussed is relatable. For instance, in the story of Francie, the terror of the holocaust is relatable to those who experience the horrific conditions, however, the topics of family bond  and compassion for others in her story is seen throughout the human existence. Moreover, politics is throughout the film because in certain countries where the interviews took place topics such as homosexuality are considered punishable by law. However, through the film Yann is able to show a difference of opinions and allow individuals the chance to discuss views that differ from society's narrow views.

    Human the movie is beautiful because it captures the human existence. As humans, we all have struggled throughout our life. Each story told reflects those struggles and emotions that we face and allows the viewer to resonate with those issues.For me, I think the film shows that everyone has a story because the film focused on the disenfranchised and untouchable; some who define happiness has having clothes and food. Moreover, the film shows a range of emotion that is felt by everyone despite the different backgrounds. What truly made the movie beautiful was the willingness of the participants to bare their souls and tell their personal stories. After telling their story, whether traumatic or happy the participant stares into the lens showing that they are able to overcome their obstacle and use their personal dilemmas as a reflection of their determination.