The Island President (2012)

Waste of time

Better Late Then Never

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I seriously don't get why this documentary scores this low on IMDb. But then again, I've seen weirder ratings on here. Good, to get to the point:Some call this docu a propaganda film for environmentalists, or for the "island president" himself. Fair enough. But is that necessarily a 'bad' thing? In my opinion, this docu gives a great insight in the complexities (and, perhaps, to an extent the impossibilities) of global governance of environmental issues. I do not think this docu actually leaves you with a positive feeling on how to tackle environmental problems, if ever. Nevertheless, it does provide you a very compelling story of a man who tries to make a difference, though be it a tiny, tiny difference. The island president's role is comparable to that of little David trying to fight gigantic, grotesque Goliath.A very compelling docu that, I think, you should have seen if you're interested in high-level politics.

Upon viewing this film, I learned that the Maldives is a country consisting of 2,000 low-lying islands, right in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It apparently has the lowest high point of any country in the world.This compelling and important documentary, directed by Jon Shenk, centers on the remarkable efforts of the former President Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed to save his country from what he believed to be the great peril of rising temperatures and sea levels, caused by global warming.Nasheed's story itself is amazing. Under the 30 year dictatorship of Maumoon Abdul Gayoon, Nasheed was arrested 12 times for political activism, tortured twice, and thrown into solitary confinement, in a small box, for 18 months. In April of 2005, he returned to the Maldives after his self-exile and somehow managed to oust Gayoon in an election in 2008.From that point on, he tried to bring world attention to his country, citing that it could be destroyed by rising sea levels. He cited serious erosion of the beaches, fresh water contamination by the sea, serious fish depletion, and the increased risk of natural disasters, such as the tsunami of 2004 that reduced the GDP in the Maldives by 50%.Leading up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, of 2009, he traveled to speak to the British Parliament, the UN General Assembly, and any other meeting with world leaders he could schedule. I thought the documentary was particularly effective in giving the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at the negotiations that went on not only with world leaders but with his own advisers and Cabinet.Nasheed developed a reputation as being a driving force to have world leaders agree to a cut in CO2 emissions. Some were calling him the new Global President. To me he came across as driven, motivated, sometimes sarcastic, and a little naive.When he reached the Copenhagen Summit, where 192 countries were represented, he quickly realized that some of the major world powers, especially China were strongly opposed to any monitored CO2 emission reductions. They felt, as a new industrialized power, they would hurt their economy substantially by doing this. It was interesting to me to see the last minute wrangling at the Summit to get some type of agreement, by the political power brokers.A note at the end of the movie, indicated that in 2012 security forces forced Nasheed to resign. Looking at various new reports it now seems to be a muddled picture politically in the Maldives.Overall, I learned quite a bit from the film and felt the way it was presented was quite engrossing.

I'm giving this film a 2 because of the cinematography, otherwise I would look for something below 1. Had the director chosen to make a film about a man gone made then that might have been interesting but this dribble is just another propaganda film for the environmental movement. What cracks me up is the scary acknowledgment that the main island has lost 5 meters of beach front and that Manhattan Island is also at the same depth. Here's an inconvenient truth for you- ALL ISLANDS ARE AT SEA LEVEL! Here's another painful fact that might present an obstacle to thinking people; sometimes beaches erode because of waves and their lack of protection from the elements. Sometimes the plates of the earth sift and islands sink and sometimes volcanoes erupt under the sea and islands rise. I love the passion of President Nasheed but it's passion misplaced. Passion for passion sake is not admirable, maybe for a kid but not a grown man. I'm done with these types of propaganda films and you should be too.

The Documentary was very well directed and presented. It portrays the important events that took place in Mohamed Nasheed's life as a child and as a politician, and his 'sudden' movement towards environment. It would made us think the how vulnerable the Maldivian life actually is!The Island President is hardly a PowerPoint presentation on the subject of environmental responsibility. That's already been done well enough. Instead, This Documentary tackles the message from a compelling human- interest angle -- by focusing on the messenger.It was far more entertaining and less didactic than An Inconvenient Truth, with beautiful scenery of Indian Ocean captured with bird-view camera angles both in stills and amazing time-lapses. A must watch for all environment lovers.