Down to Earth

Some previous reviewers have spoken of how this film was a great awakening to them. To those people, your thoughts and experiences are valid. However, if you are a person who has already spent some time reflecting on your consumption and your existence on this earth, I fear that you may not find much new information here. Sure, as a Western city-dweller it is interesting to see how people live their lives in remote locations. Unfortunately, I feel like the film is quite reductive in its portrayal of these Earth Keepers and their communities. In this day and age, most things are interconnected. Even Indigenous peoples who live their lives according to the "olden ways" have messy interconnectedness with the "modern" society. What do the healers portrayed in the film think about modern medicine? Are they against it? Is it available to them at all? What are the life stories of the young people who get educated by the female Aboriginal leader in the segment from Northern Australia? And how did she herself end up where she is today? There are so many life stories I would like to have known more about. Instead, I feel like the movie almost plays into the old "noble savage" trope, there the all-benevolent "Other" is expected to hold all the answers and teach "us" how to be better human beings. I'm not saying we shouldn't listen to Indigenous leaders - we absolutely should! But this film does not spark the deep reflection I had hoped it would.