Product Details

• Actors: Glenn Close
• Directors: Yann Arthus-Bertrand
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2009
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0026OE2O8
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,705 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Documentary > Nature & Wildlife

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Former actor Yann Arthus-Bertrand directed this visually astonishing portrait of the Earth as seen from mesmerizing aerial views. Home is not the first documentary to survey our planet from the air, but Arthus-Bertrand brilliantly and dreamily captures the miraculous linkage within delicate eco-systems. For viewers whose eyes glaze over at descriptions of the way Earth recycles energy and matter, Home underscores the beautiful and awesome reality of that complex process. Narrated by actress Glenn Close (in this English-language version), Home begins by exploring and clarifying the natural history of water, sunlight, and the role simple life-forms such as algae played (and still play) in making the planet hospitable to more evolved, living things. As the film moves along, it also has a way of rebooting one's lazy assumptions about familiar phenomena. The Grand Canyon, for example, might be a fantastic sight to behold, but it's also a collection of billions and billions of shells compressed under Earth's oceans long ago. The carbon trapped in the Grand Canyon was drained from the atmosphere, helping--once again--oxygen-dependent life to develop.

Similarly, plant life, Home tells us, broke up the water molecule and released oxygen into the atmosphere. Everything is linked, everything is part of a grand machine--the film makes this clear in scores of ways, and not just by telling us. Arthus-Bertrand reveals the intricate, breathtaking designs and patterns of glaciers feeding rivers, of animals feeding on plant life so more plant life can grow, of Australia's great Coral Reef's role in keeping the ocean in eco-balance. Of course, a big part of the story is the impact short-sighted humans have on these systems: the way we overfish, or drain deserts of scarce fossil water, or turn non-farming lands into perverse engines for agriculture. There is much to be alarmed at watching Home, but there is much to move one as well. --Tom Keogh "

Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/05/2009 Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible cinematographic detail and style, iffy script!, July 29, 2009

By	D. E. Hill "follower of the art of Natural Hi... (Centennial, CO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The aerial cinematography in this film is terrific to watch, and that is why it rates 5 stars. You will definitely want the blu-ray version, because the detail is astonishing. There are some strange things about the American language script however. First, some poor, yet should-have-been-obvious edits for this audience, for example: 1) Grand Canyon of Arizona, or of the Colorado, not in Colorado, 2) Towns started up more than 6,000 years ago, not 600 years ago. Second, the message often had nothing to do with the images. You notice this right away when we are looking at glacial ice-fields in Iceland, and the narrator is talking about rivers. What was that all about? What does a healthy, swimming whale have to do with the plight of ocean fisheries? It appears that there was a collection of TERRIFIC video, and someone needed a "socially relevant" script to accompany its presentation, but the match was not tight. Third, there is an enormous dichotomy between more than an hour spent in hopeless and dreadful pessimism about the planet, followed by a few minutes of optimism that was kind of unsupported. I mean, if Americans are the worst offenders on the Planet, what does more education and aid to third world countries have to do with the impact of overpopulation and technology? Fourth, core issues like population control and political instability were not addressed at all. I am afraid that valid points like the link between meat consumption and high levels of resource utilization get lost in the message of aid to developed countries, or the lack of a real solution here. After all, if we are all vegetarians consuming 1/10 of the agricultural resources per capita, what happens when there are 10 times as many of us in a few years? What about this urban blight? Can we all go rural, not suburban, but really rural? Aren't we better off when people in third world countries don't drive automobiles? So, I think the messages here do raise a lot of thought, but are short on convincing answers, or convincing video evidence. The "feel good" stuff at the end is just that. My well-to-do neighbors have college educations, and they still eat beef and shrimp from shrimp farms that are destroying mangrove forest,fill their refrigerators with bottled water, and they drive SUVs without remorse! Maybe we need more clear thinking about human nature, not just some comforting blurbs about how good we could be if things were just right! But, such a cinematographic journey this is!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great documentary, with stunning images and good narrative, June 5, 2009

By	Fea M. Yen "That's my mom's name, but anyway,... (Hong Kong, China) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great documentary film! The images and shots were movingly stunning, the colors were amazingly rich and fluid.
THe narrative highlighted the problems that we've created with literature-worthy eloquence and with objectivity whilst not forgetting humanity's needs. The mostadmirable part of it was that while it instills a sense of pain and regret for the environment, it focuses on what we still have and what we can still save. But behind every good narrative, there is a good soundtrack and the one for this documentary lives up to its narrative, with music from all corners of the globe, each fitting into its place and each a place where it fits.

One extremely noteworthy aspect of narrative,picture and soundtrack mixing well is that the soundtrack doesn't drown out the narrative, as some documentaries are wont to do. Also, the documentary allows for moments of wordless eloquence to captivate the viewer in sound and image - yet without dragging it to being "verbose".

all in all, the five stars awarded are truly deserved.
one for picture, one for mastery of language in narration, one for soundtrack, one for humanity the last one, for message and overall delivery.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you Yann Arthus-Bertrand! This Blu-ray is visually impressive, thought provoking, inspiring and powerful!, June 11, 2009

By	Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

It's too late... to be a pessimist.

"HOME" is a film directed by Award-winning aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Yann has been active in covering the world beginning with his Altitude Agency which he formed in 1991, an agency which was the first of its kind to specialize in aerial photography and in 1994 he captured the world from above and its beauty in the book "Earth from Above" which became a best seller in many countries.

But Yann is also known for his involvement with Ecology and he is the founder of GoodPlanet, helping companies and people with reforestation and practicing energy efficiency. He is a well-respected man known for his work on public environmental awareness and most recently, the world became familiar with his work from his film "HOME".

The story of the creation of "HOME" is quite interesting. In 2007, he began his new documentary project originally known as "Boomerang" which then became known a "HOME". Produced by well-known film director/producer Luc Besson and financed by the PPR group, "HOME" was created. In a way, the documentary was Yann's way of showing the world of what kind of state our planet is in. That the beauty that we see, can all be gone within the next decade(s) due to man's needs and rapidly depleting natural resources.

In order to have the film shown worldwide, Yann gave up his rights to the film and it was shown on the video streaming site "YouTube" on June 4, 2009 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 5th.

The film spanned 54 countries and 120 locations covering the most amazing landscapes of the planet. Narrated by actress Glenn Close, the film starts off with showing us the beauty of the planet. From the volcanoes, the rivers, the ice and water that flow through the world. Then the beautiful rain forests and then the animals that reside on the planet.

But unlike other well-done documentaries on nature that focus solely on a planet's beautiful surroundings and the animal interaction and its importance in the food chain, "HOME" shows those things but immediately switches gears to show us the how our planet is in trouble and to best illustrate the trouble, showing various civilizations who are now in trouble or are facing major crisis.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"HOME" is featured in 1080p High Definition (aspect ration of 1:78:1) and is featured on a 25-GB single layer Blu-ray disc (AVC @ 21 MBPS). If you thought "Planet Earth" looked absolutely incredible, "HOME" is magnificent to watch and the imagery is absolutely breathtaking.

Words can not describe the imagery captured on film. From above a volcano, to high above the algae covering the oceans, the farm lands across the world, the deserts, the ice, the people, the animals from high above. But then you see the destruction of trees and areas that were once full of water, now having depleted their water resource. You will be in awe of the cinematography but shocked about how civilizations have depleted their natural resource that lands that were once full of trees are now barren. Nothing has grown back. Just shocking!

As for audio, audio is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (and also French 5.1 Dolby Digital). Glenn Close narrates the film and can be heard clearly. But there are scenes where you hear water rushing and you can hear your subwoofer being utilized as the rumbles are captured. Also, above many civilizations that are packed with people, you can hear them from way above and those crowd noises are captured quite well. The audio compliments the overall video imagery and is what I expected from a documentary.

As for subtitles, English SDH is offered.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Unfortunately, there are no special features on this Blu-ray release.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I absolutely loved "HOME". I was surprised how the film started out showing us the beauty of the planet. The cinematography was excellent but 30-minutes into the film, I was asking myself...is this all about the beauty of the planet? Having watched "Planet Earth" on Blu-ray and various nature based documentaries, I was thinking that perhaps that "HOME" was no different from the others. Beautiful cinematography but I was hoping for something more.

Well, the film suddenly switches gears and then shows us the man-made destruction of the planet. I was immediately captivated by the images of lands that have had their forests eliminated, then to see lands that were once full of water now seeing their water levels much lower than ever. Image after image of civilizations who have depended on their natural resources now having depleted them. From the fish to the water.

I was absolutely in awe. I never knew other countries had it this bad. And to know that because they have used up their natural resources, there is a chance that they will become refugees in their country. But shocking are images of people living amongst their trash, people who are living in poor impoverished areas but built right next to them are these big multi-billion dollar oil corporations.

We learn of Easter Island's Rapa Nui tribe, well known for the Moai (statues) but also well-known for how this tribe destroyed its forests and how habitat destruction has led to soil problems, then water problems and overall collapse on civilization, nearly wiping everyone out. Of course, Easter Island's conflicts have been documented by travelers who have visited the area when it was lush and full of life and now, all life is nearly all gone from that region.

There are many images that I would never have expected to see captured on film and that imagery is all captured in "HOME".

"HOME" is a magnificent documentary that opened my eyes to the world. Director Yann Arthus-Bertrand and the whole crew must be commended for such risky, challenging but also beautiful work of covering 54 countries and 120 locations. It's one thing to capture beauty but to capture the destruction by man. In fact, on the back of the Blu-ray case, you learn that the producers will donate their film's profits back to Goodplanet.org. Even the packaging is ecologically friendly and made with 30% recycled paper and bio-based inks.

Needless to say, after watching "HOME", my eyes have opened up to the world. There are many things we have read or heard about on the news but now we have visual evidence that is made available to the world of how things are getting worse and that we need to change our ways before its too late. Because of technology, we are now rapidly exceeding our planets resources. And already, civilizations are or will soon go through catastrophic situations never seen before. This documentary is indeed an eye-opener.

"HOME" is breathtakingly brilliant on Blu-ray with awesome picture quality but as much as the visuals are impressive and vibrant. It's one of those documentaries that you hope everyone gives it a chance and the time to watch and see for themselves and so they will know what is going on in the world. I don't think many have a clue how our planet has changed within the last 50 years and its pretty sad.

There is literally so much visually to take in but I wouldn't mind watching this documentary repeatedly because the amount of footage and what you are able to see is outstanding. Again, I am very impressed with this release.

If there was one nitpick I have with this Blu-ray release is that with the message delivered from the film, I wish there would be some form of special features included. May it be pointing people to directions of websites that they can get involved in and even a featurette on the making of "HOME". Anything extra would have been nice. But I understand that the focus and the message the filmmakers wanted people to see, is what people will take from the film after watching it. Again, "HOME" is simply magnificent and is truly an eye-opener and this is probably one of the rare occasions where a Blu-release was barebones in special features content but still receive my highest recommendation.

"HOME" is a documentary that I wholeheartedly recommend. I was amazed and now I'm just happy that I had the opportunity to watch this. This Blu-ray is highly recommended!