How to Change the World

Given the access that writer/director Jerry Rothwell had to the 1,500 or so cans of 16mm film in the Greenpeace archive, this is a frustratingly selective chronicle of the early days of the pioneering group that helped make environmentalism fashionable. Founded almost accidentally in 1969 by a bunch of Vancouver hippies out to stop the Nixon administration from conducting underground nuclear tests on the Alaskan island of Amchitka, Greenpeace started to widen its sphere of activity under its reluctant leader, Bob Hunter. A journalist better at promoting issues rather than running an organisation, Hunter relied heavily on committed lieutenants such as sailor Paul Watson and scientist Patrick Moore. But Rothwell allows himself to become distracted by their feuds rather than concentrating on the landmark campaigns against whaling and seal-culling that broadened Greenpeace's appeal and demonstrated the efficacy of well-targeted activism. While Hunter's viewpoint is voiced from his writings by actor Barry Pepper, Watson and Moore argue their cases in interviews. However, they are not accorded equal screen time and this imbalance further skews an account that is primarily worth seeing for Ron Precious and Rex Weyler's field footage and photography.