Home (2009 Film)

There are few things in the world, least of all films, which begin, middle and end awe-inspiringly. Yet, as surprised as I was, Yann Arthur-Bertrand’s 2009 Film ‘Home‘ did just that, and without seeming like they were trying, to boot.

Home's title card stands for almost everything it embodies.

When I first stumbled upon Home I wasn’t enthused to go and watch it. On the contrary, I was pretty sure that Home would just be another ‘The Earth is dying and it’s YOUR fault’ movie. The fact is that ‘Global Warming’ has brought in hundreds of millions of dollars for the film industry just as much as it has Western governments and my drive to go and get told why I’m fucking up my own planet, quite frankly, was not how I wanted to spend my Wednesday evening. Thankfully, I had gotten Home quite wrong.

To begin, Home opens with a curious clip of all of the child brands of the PPR Group (the organization that sponsored Home to cover all of their extra costs) swirling around, merging together into the title card for the film. For a film that whiffs of environmentalism even before you begin, it almost puts you off balance of what’s going on: have they uploaded the wrong video? Has some crazy 4chan corporation swapped the video? Sadly, this rather unsightly entry into Home leaves you with low expectations. And even more thankfully, these are then blown out of the water several seconds later with the actual beginning of Home.

After the title card swoops in, the film begins; this is the point where you will either crap your pants in awe or wonder if your eyes just got a Hi-Def-blu-ray-omg-wtf-bbq upgrade. As every shot in Home was filmed in extremely high-definition, the entire sequence of footage flows excellently and produces a real masterpiece of cinematography.

The narrator (Glenn Close) suddenly stars her voiceover. “Listen to me, please,” she begins, “you’re like me.” Her soft, almost raspy voice lends well to the overall feel of Home, and as she’s one of the two entire components of the film, rightfully so. Whilst others might assume someone like Morgan Freeman would fit the role for such a large undertaking, Close delivers something far more ethereal — and far more perfect — in Home. There’s a humility in Close’s voice and it fits just perfectly with what Home is all about; our common humanity is shown well, and whilst her scripting no doubt has a large part to play in this, there’s an excellence spun into Home from the very first, to the very last, words that Close speaks.

Whilst Home is an environmental film, the truth is that Home features far more on the humanity of life on Earth than the impact we’re having. Indeed, only the latter portion of the entire film is about climate change, and even this is given an unexpected twist near the end — contrasted against the usual ‘The world is ending. Run to the hills’ attitude — Home manages to balance ecological awareness with historical and scientific facts.

Indeed, the message of Home is almost a little paradoxical than expected. Where usually I would see some expectation forced on the viewer for them to suddenly become an eco-warrior, there is encouragement of moderation, intelligence and personal responsibility for a greater whole. Rather than trying to push me into the pocket of environmentalism, Home concludes with positivity, hope and real kindness. This, to me, is what makes Home truly striking. They push past the front beauty of the footage presented and really open up the deep mechanisms behind it all; the giant web of life that exists all around us. The role of the consumer. Above everything, the bigger picture in all of our lives, without the bullying nature of general ecological films.

However, there are some real kinks in Home which really make me wonder about to what extent Home is anything more than a voiceover and some fancy cinematography. As you see right from the start, Home was sponsored by the PPR group. PPR contains brands such as Gucci, Puma and YvesSaintLaurent, all of which, just like any other corporations and their respective brands, are based upon consumerism and, ultimately, damage the planet. Whilst I can understand that the PPR group may have simply wanted exposure, the question remains how unadulterated Home really is in all of this.

Nonetheless, Home has a lot to offer to everyone, regardless of age or personal opinion. We see the world, from the mass greenhouses of Spain to the Ganges in India and bush fires in Australia, in the true frame which exists around all of humanity. It’s hard to really quantify Home, and trying to pull it together now holds true to that. I would watch Home again, if not for its message but for the jaw-droppingly stunning beauty of the film. Whilst some parts do feel a little bit “Let’s save the planet from global warming otherwise we’re all going to die”, ultimately there exists a compassion about Home that makes it gentle even for the most cynical of us. For that, I award Home a delicious

9 out of 10 stars

Home is free to watch on the HomeProject channel.