Film

This Changes Everything

Name: This Changes Everything
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2015
Cast: Naomi Klein, Crystal Lameman, Alexis Bonogofsky, Mike Scott, Vanessa Braided Hair

Naomi Klein's essay-documentary traces climate activism across continents, moving beyond abstract crisis to show communities fighting extraction and pollution. It's structured around the messy, human reality of resistance: Indigenous land defenders, workers retraining, divestment campaigns. Deliberately preachy and urgent, it's for anyone who feels climate dread but wants to see people acting anyway.

If you liked this

An Inconvenient Truth2006

Al Gore's presentation crystallized climate science for millions. It's the film that made the problem impossible to ignore, using elegant graphics and real data to show what we're facing.

But The solutions feel thin, the rhetoric can feel distant, and some predictions have aged awkwardly. It's more about fear than hope.

The Social Dilemma2020

Exposes how corporate systems shape our choices through interviews with tech insiders. Like This Changes Everything, it shows how invisible infrastructure controls outcomes—just different infrastructure.

But The dramatic reconstruction scenes feel overwrought and sometimes trivialise the actual mechanisms at work. Preachiness without much nuance.

My Octopus Teacher2020

A filmmaker documents a year observing an octopus, discovering wonder in the natural world. Builds urgent ecological care through intimacy rather than argument, showing what we stand to lose.

But Deliberately gentle and meditative. If you want righteous anger and systemic analysis, the quiet naturalism won't satisfy that itch.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from This Changes Everything

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch2018

Both centre the visible proof of capitalism's environmental cost. One argues; one shows. Together they hold the full scope.

Manufactured landscapes, mined mountains, toxified rivers—shot like art. It's wordless or nearly so, trusting images to communicate what This Changes Everything argues. Same diagnosis, different language entirely.

But No narration means no argument, no interviews, no hope. Beautiful documentation of destruction can feel paralyzing rather than mobilizing.

The Yes Men Fix the World2009

Activists pose as corporate spokespeople to expose greenwashing and hypocrisy. Hilarious direct action that uses deception to reveal truth, with the dark edge Klein's work shares.

But The pranks sometimes obscure the actual problems. It feels clever first, substantive second—the opposite of what This Changes Everything attempts.

Arrival2016

Science fiction about learning an alien language reframes how humans think and act. Like Klein's work, it's about how language shapes what change becomes possible.

But Abstract and dreamlike. No explicit climate content; if you want direct action, this is metaphor only.

Erin Brockovich2000

Real story of a legal assistant fighting corporate pollution poisoning a town. Shows how ordinary people can take on systems, with Julia Roberts bringing fierce competence and humour.

But Ends with settlement and resolution. It offers catharsis rather than wrestling with what systemic change actually demands.

Before the Flood2016

Leonardo DiCaprio documents climate science and solutions across the globe. Travels the world much as Klein does, interviewing scientists, activists, and policymakers.

But Feels slick and celebrity-driven where Klein feels grassroots. The solutions can seem to centre technological fixes and individual action.

The Fourth Estate2018

Behind-the-scenes at the New York Times during Trump's first year. Shows how institutions respond (or fail to) in crisis, relevant to how media frames climate urgency.

But American, institutional, and ultimately reassuring about journalism. Klein's critique cuts deeper into systemic problems journalism doesn't know how to cover.

Dark Waters2019

Same villain (industrial capitalism), same method (hiding environmental truth), opposite form. Where Klein shows systemic patterns, Dark Waters shows how one person can force accountability within the system.

Mark Ruffalo as a lawyer suing DuPont for poisoning a town with PFOA. A thriller that reveals Klein's argument in narrative form: how corporations knowingly destroy lives while profiting.

But Focuses on one man, one lawsuit, one resolution. Suggests the system can be beaten in court, which Klein would say misses the point.

Waste Land2010

Both trust communities at the sharp end of environmental destruction to teach us what resistance looks like. Klein interviews them as experts; this film makes them artists. Same respect, different register.

Brazilian photographer invites garbage pickers at a landfill to become artists. Shows resilience and dignity in communities most harmed by consumer excess and extraction—the exact communities Klein centres.

But Leans toward uplift and redemption. Doesn't interrogate systems; celebrates people surviving them. Feels almost too hopeful if you want critique.