The problems of the world can seem so vast and insurmountable at times that our natural inclination may be to simply throw up our hands in despair and determine that nothing can be done to rectify the situation. This is exactly how professional photographer and filmmaker Tuck Pipkin ("Nobelity") used to feel, until he realized that if he simply broke down the problems into smaller, more manageable units, he – or anyone else, for that matter - could actually make a difference.
The documentary that he narrates, "One Peace at a Time" - which describes itself as a "movie about a messed-up world and how we can fix it" - attempts to show how millions of individuals, working separately or together on a smaller scale, can, when taken in the aggregate, have a profound effect on the world at large. Pipkin travels the globe in search of individuals and organizations that have found successful ways of coping with problems. He takes us to an orphanage in India, a family-planning program in Thailand, a water project in Ethiopia, an AIDS-treatment program in Sub-Saharan Africa, a model school in India, an innovative loan program in Bagladesh, a medical center in Napal, a community center in Nairobi. And that's just scratching the surface.
Pipkin and the filmmakers posit that every person in the world has the right to clean water, adequate nutrition, health care, education, and a safe and nurturing environment. It is this simple and basic philosophy that informs both the movie and the actions each of these individuals is taking to make life better for those less fortunate. Pipkin interviews many of the movers, shakers and thinkers on the issue, some well known, some known only to the members of their own communities. Heck, at one point, even Willie Nelson moseys on by for a sit-down with Pipkin to discuss how we can all learn to live in greater harmony with the environment and each other, all based on the choices we make.
Beyond making us all feel better about the world and its prospects for the future, the movie's main goal is to inspire its audience to take an active role in making that world a better place. "One Peace at a Time" is no great shakes as a movie per se, and it does have the air of a glorified public service announcement at times, but if it motivates us to get up off the couch and actually DO something for others, it will have fulfilled its purpose.
