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Surviving Progress

Play trailer Poster for Surviving Progress Released Apr 6, 2011 1h 26m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
71% Tomatometer 38 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood and others weigh in with their thoughts on whether the pitfalls of progress could actually destroy civilization instead of help it.

Critics Reviews

View All (38) Critics Reviews
Shadow and Act Staff Shadow and Act Muddled with no motivation... Sep 13, 2022 Full Review Joe Williams St. Louis Post-Dispatch These are critically important issues, but it needs a sharper point to get through thick skulls, and even evolved humans who are tired of the treadmill of progress might ask: What else is new? Rated: 2.5/4 Jun 8, 2012 Full Review Mark Feeney Boston Globe A slick jeremiad, "Surviving Progress" is expertly made (it's far from tedious) but intellectually muddled. Rated: 2/4 May 17, 2012 Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com It is rather nice to have a film that doesn't go all histrionic and overplay the drama. Rated: 3.0/4.0 Sep 24, 2020 Full Review Kelly Jane Torrance Washington Examiner These are crucial questions facing us, no matter what side of the aisle you're on. But, unfortunately, you won't find any substantive discussion of them here. Rated: 2/4 Jan 4, 2019 Full Review Alistair Harkness Scotsman Persuasively argued in places, the film never really gets beyond the surface. That, however, may also be the point. Rated: 3/5 Jan 28, 2013 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (51) audience reviews
Audience Member Some interesting ideas at play in this film. It does feel a bit pessimistic with it's "the sky is falling" message. But I also think we need films like this to remind us of our impact as an overall civilization on the planet and each other. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Offers some good insight on the cost of human progress, but offers nothing as a solution other than "use less." Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member This film is a mixed bag, part documentary and part diatribe and part social critique with real bite. There are three or four interview subjects who deliver some incisive commentary on history and contemporary civilization. But there's a kind of redundant quality and a self-important air to much of what remains. The production values are very good, with a few especially powerful scenes that make a point with that "picture is worth a thousand words" effect. There are also some questionable claims here and there, such as the statement that it wasn't until around 1980 that humans started squandering "natural capital" instead of just using the "interest". One of the key motivations for striking out into the New World was the search for resources after European power nations had leveled most of the continent's forests and overfished to the point of exhausting fish stocks, etc. So someone doesn't know their history. But anyway, there's a thought-provoking quality to enough of this film to recommend it. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Intereresting ideas not quite fleshed out. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Tremendo documental con perspectiva sociológica. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member You might want to take some Prozac before you see this movie, but do see it. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Surviving Progress

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood and others weigh in with their thoughts on whether the pitfalls of progress could actually destroy civilization instead of help it.
Director
Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks
Screenwriter
Harold Crooks, Mathieu Roy
Distributor
First Run
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 6, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 1, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$47.1K
Runtime
1h 26m