Hurricane Sandy. Wildfires in the West. Brown-outs in the East. Farmers losing crops in record amounts to record droughts.

As Craig Scott Rosebraugh's convicting eco-doc Greedy Lying Bastards kicks off, the assumption is simple - climate change is real and we're not doing a damn thing about it.

Why?

That's the thrust of Rosebraugh's intellectually thorough yet emotionally frightening documentary. It's a simple question, really, "Who are the greedy, lying bastards holding climate change hostage and keeping society from doing something about it before it's too late?"

Rosebraugh has an answer and it ain't pretty.

Greedy Lying Bastards picked up the Ecofilm Award at the 2012 Boston Film Festival and was winner of Best Feature Documentary at the 2012 Burbank Film Festival while also screening at the United Nations Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival and Costa Rica Documentary Film Festival among others. The film has been picked up for a limited nationwide release on March 8th by Lambert Releasing in the U.S. and Kaleidoscope Distribution in the U.K.

While the film starts off with an overview of the climate change argument itself, the vast majority of the film pays closest attention to exactly why an issue that the vast majority of respected scientists agree on has led to almost no political action. The film details the "denialists," the people and organizations who dispute the legitimacy of climate change and takes a well thought yet yet relentlessly direct approach in pointing out the myriad of ways in which these organizations and people have, time and time again, put profits before people. From the Koch Brothers to ExxonMobile to politicians and even Justices, Greedy Lying Bastards pulls back the veil that has hidden the truth behind the popular campaigns that so easily capture the attention of Americans.

The film is directed by Craig Scott Rosebraugh, a known political activist and filmmaker, in cooperation with actress and well known environmental activist Daryl Hannah. Hannah serves as Executive Producer for the film, a film that's not too far removed from other well known eco-docs such as An Inconvenient Truth, yet there's something refreshing about a film that's willing to name names and call those out in a way that's not even remotely politically correct yet far more effective than your general "awareness" film.

For more information on the upcoming release of Greedy Lying Bastards, visit the film's website.


© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic