David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)

The documentary is a terrifying condemnation of biodiversity loss combined with a hopeful manifesto for mitigation, making it mandatory viewing through its effective blend of urgency and reassurance.

The film is a cosy yet terrifying witness statement on biodiversity loss and climate change that stands as one of the most important of 2020. The critic singles out the serene tone adopted by the usually reassuring Attenborough and the emotionally penetrating sequences of endangered creatures staring into the camera.

Attenborough’s personal ‘witness statement’ on the degradation of the natural world is powerful and important despite little that is novel. The critic singles out the clarity with which the case is presented, including the shift from despair to a simple message of hope illustrated by the reclamation of nature in Chernobyl.

The film presents Attenborough's personal reflection on his career and the state of the planet as an urgent call to action. The critic highlights the legend's direct plea to humanity in his later years.

The film distils the urgency of environmental warnings into a compelling 90-minute call to arms that includes solutions, but the critic questions whether this 'witness statement' will move the public as powerfully as earlier works.

The film is a personal and political witness statement delivering a stark warning about the climate emergency and the damage inflicted on the planet during Attenborough's lifetime. It balances bleak statistics and before-and-after footage with a hopeful message in the final section that action can still save the situation.

The critic praises this moving documentary in which Attenborough traces biodiversity loss over his lifetime as his “witness statement.” It singles out the film’s achievement in positioning its subject as a mediator between humans and nature, with hope found in examples of regrowth such as Chernobyl.

This tearjerker documentary serves as a pre-emptive eulogy for the Earth, opening in Chernobyl as a microcosm for environmental damage and featuring Attenborough's personal reflections on biodiversity loss. It ends with calls to rewild the world and solutions like sustainable food production.

The critic calls it the most important film of the year and a necessary watch, framing Attenborough’s life against humanity’s destruction of the natural world. They single out the shift from awe to grief and anger in the presentation of ecological collapse and proposed solutions.

The critic calls the film an imperative and important watch that serves as both a witness statement and a mission statement on humanity's impact, praising Attenborough's earnest delivery and the striking contrast between nature's beauty and scenes of destruction.

The critic describes the film as a rich personal witness statement on environmental change over Attenborough's lifetime, noting its tragic yet hopeful tone and his belief in positive action.