Hollywood loves an apocalyptic tale and, sadly, the most likely culprit when it comes to bringing about the end of the world is humanity itself. That’s why movies about climate change and the damage we are doing to our planet are a dime a dozen.
However, even some of the most well-known films in the genre, such as Interstellar, The Day After Tomorrow and even Erin Brockovich, haven’t exactly hit the jackpot when it comes to positive reviews, so we’ve filtered out the best of the bunch for you to watch.
Check out the five below, all with Rotten Tomatoes ratings of over 90% and available on the best streaming services.
Snowpiercer
RT score: 94%
Age rating: 15
Length: 2hr 10m
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Where to watch: Netflix (UK, US and AU)
Snowpiercer paints a terrifying picture of what could happen if we fail to tackle the climate crisis. Starring Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell and Octavia Spencer, it is set in a post-apocalyptic, snow-covered world brought about by a failed attempt to halt global warming by pumping aerosols into the stratosphere to cool it down.
In the film, which later spawned a TV series, the last survivors of the resulting ice age must live out the rest of their lives on a self-sustaining train that continuously circumnavigates the globe. And, unsurprisingly, all hells breaks lose. If ever there was an advert not just for tackling our environmental crisis but making sure we get the solutions right, this is it!
How to Blow up a Pipeline
RT score: 95%
Age rating: 15
Length: 1hr 44
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Where to watch: Netflix (UK), Hulu (US), SBS (AU)
Action thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline focuses on everyday people who are pushed into eco-terrorism after witnessing the devastating effects of climate change. The movie stars Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lucas Gage and Forrest Goodluck.
It focuses on a group of activists who plan to blow up sections of an oil pipeline in West Texas to bring the worldwide oil industry to its knees. The movie highlights the damage our reliance on fossil fuels is doing to the planet and how ordinary people feel powerless in the fight to avoid a climate catastrophe.
WALL-E
RT score: 95 %
Age rating: U
Length: 1hr 38m
Director: Andrew Stanton
Where to watch: Disney+ (UK, US and AU)
Is there anything sadder than the idea of the last remaining robot left alone to clean up our garbage-strewn planet? That rubbish-compacting robot, Wall-E may well be adorable, but Pixar Animation Studios haven’t pulled any punches when it comes to showing how Earth might look in the future if we don’t, quite literally, clean up our act.
The animation, with a voice cast including Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight and Sigourney Weaver, depicts Earth as a wasteland, ruined by consumerism, corporate greed and environmental neglect.
First Reformed
RT score: 94%
Age rating: 15
Length: 1hr 53
Director: Paul Schrader
Where to watch: Prime Video (US), Plex (US), Pluto TV (US)
Ethan Hawke stars in Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, playing a pastor who is struggling with a crisis of faith but is asked to provide counselling to a radical environmentalist.
The film considers the possibility of a future world rendered almost uninhabitable by climate change and the ethical questions of what it means to bring a child into such a place. It examines our feelings of hopelessness and fear in the face of an environmental crisis and probes our relationship to the planet. The movie also shows how the despair caused by climate change can lead to extreme actions such as suicide.
Princess Mononoke
RT score: 93%
Age rating: PG
Length: 2hr 13m
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Where to watch: Netflix (UK), Max (US and AU)
Japanese animation Princess Mononoke is set in a place that has been deforested in order to mine iron. And if that doesn’t sound familiar enough, then throw into the mix corporate greed and the destructive consequences of unchecked industrial expansion.
The film, with voices from Minnie Driver, Clare Danes and John DiMaggio, shows what happens when leaders put profit above all else and makes no bones about the consequences of our disregard for the natural world.
