There are those films that you watch. Then, there are those films that you surrender yourself to. I was only a few minutes into Anne de Carbuccia's feature doc Earth Protectors when I realized that I had surrendered myself to the extraordinarily beautiful and narratively immersive film. 

For the last decade, Anne de Carbuccia has blossomed as an important and unforgettable environmental artist portraying and documenting human-caused threats to our planet including drought, plastic oceans, species existinction, and endangered cultures. She calls us, through her voice and through her art, to adapt to the Anthropocene: the new era in which human impact overwhelms natural cycles - fires, floods, pollutions, super typhoons and, of course, viruses. 

Earth Protectors would be a powerful and worthy doc if it only focused on the artist herself. It doesn't. Instead, it illustrates the power of one person as de Carbuccia meets time and again a new generation of activists and artists and passionate souls working to save our planet. She calls them, as the title indicates, Earth Protectors. They are, essentially, a warm quilt of sorts creating a tapestry of hope against the overwhelming yet also calling us into our own actions big and small. It was while filming Earth Protectors that the Coronavirus pandemic came to be and amplified her message even moreso and also amplified her belief in the power of human connection, the necessity of community, and the trustworthiness of science. 

While Earth Protectors confronts some of the planet's greatest challenges, it does so with integrity, inspiration, and hope fully intact. It possesses a belief in the power of one person to create change and it recognizes the influence of art, activism, thought, and action. As the closing credits were rolling, I felt better equipped and more inspired than ever to do my part in positively impacting my planet. 

Earth Protectors is beautifully shot by co-writer Luigi Montebello and also embodied by the wondrous accompanying music of Filippo Manni and Massimo Perin. 

It is seldom that a doc such as Earth Protectors successfully informs and entertains. Yet, this is exactly what happens with this artistic, awe-inspiring documentary that feels like both a warm hug and a call to work together to make the world a better place for everyone. 

Currently on its indie festival circuit run, Earth Protectors is a film not to be missed. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic