"Planet of the Humans" (Rumble Media/YouTube)
Score = 31/2 Stars (***1/2) Out of 4 Stars (N/R)
On any other week, the removal of a Michael Moore-produced documentary from one of the world’s leading content providers would have gone viral in a nanosecond.
Yet, this compelling development received hardly a mention from most news outlets.
There are a few possible reasons for this.
Given the legitimate accusations of "selective editing" [another descriptive phrase for censorship] hurled at social networking platforms Facebook and Twitter by President Donald Trump, and other conservatives, this story didn’t really have much of chance to develop any legs.
Perhaps it's because the movie wasn’t getting enough views, but according to the film’s distributor it’s been watched over eight million times since it debuted on April 21, so that’s probably not the reason.
The documentary doesn’t have any violence, nudity, or depictions of animal abuse.
There is only a smattering of profanity so that can’t be the reason.
The official answer was that the producers used an image in the movie without the permission of the photographer but in all likelihood, YouTube jettisoned the title from their platform because it flies in the face of "Green Energy" agendas.
This would be easy to understand had the movie been made by say, noted conservative filmmakers such as Dinesh D’Souza or Mel Gibson, but in reality it's the first feature film from director Jeff Gibbs, a self-described "tree-hugger" and staunch liberal Democrat.
Gibbs’ association with Moore goes back nearly two decades.
He composed the musical scores for the Moore-helmed features "Bowling for Columbine," (2002) "Fahrenheit 9/11," (2004) and "Capitalism: A Love Story," (2009).
What's even more shocking is Moore affixing his stamp of approval on a movie which depicts how the sausage within the Green Energy factories is made.
As vocal as any of his brethren in Hollywood’s far-left intelligentsia, Moore the producer is overseeing a blistering indictment of one of if not the most sacred of the Democratic Party’s cows, exposing it as a beyond-costly and colossally catastrophic failure.
To go into finer detail here, regarding the reams of content in Gibbs’ movie would require 10 times the space of this entire review and would also serve as spoilers, for it's just as much a mystery whodunit as it is a documentary.
Gibbs doesn’t have to resort to "Gotcha!" journalism or prod or cajole his interviewees for the true costs of wind, solar, and biomass energy who all sheepishly admit they aren't only massively expensive to get off the ground, they frequently fail to deliver even a fraction of the energy regularly claimed by various alternative energy cheering sections.
There are over a dozen instances shown throughout where those operating these supposed "eco-friendly" forms of energy employ traditional sources (oil, coal, turbine-based electrical) as back-ups.
One such operation burns green-treated construction lumber for fuel.
Many of the chemicals used to treat this type of wood become poisonous when burned.
Few people argue that Green Energy as a concept isn’t a great idea, but as made clear in Gibbs’ ear-pinning movie it's simply economically unfeasible.
The amount of coal required to build a single wind tower is so great, it would take 10 years of operating at maximum efficiency for it to reach a breakeven point, given the shelf life of these contraptions is only two decades.
That represents a terrible return on investment.
The latest 2020 versions of solar panels only operate at between 15 and 20% efficiency, which is far from the 8% of a decade ago.
It takes a lot for guys of Moore and Gibbs’ political persuasion to pooh-pooh on their party’s pet project. They obviously considered the fallout before releasing the movie.
In Moore’s case, many critics in the film community — among his staunchest of allies —have already begun turning on him and the film.
Yet, at the same time, Moore is giving conservatives cause to reconsider. Maybe he’s not in lockstep with some of the Democratic Party’s platforms. In doing so he might give other Democrats a reason to rethink their position — at least on the issue of energy.
On May 26, Moore, Gibbs and co-producer Ozzie Zehner announced they were considering legal action against YouTube. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
They also launched their own web site (planetofthehumans.com) to remain on the public radar. If any of YouTube’s competitors wanted to expand their own brand, they should seriously consider making a deal with Moore and company to begin restreaming the film.
Nothing makes people more interested in seeing something they’re told they can’t watch.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Michael Clark has written for over 30 local and national media outlets, is currently the only newspaper-based film critic providing original content in the Atlanta Top 10 media marketplace and co-founded the Atlanta Film Critics Circle in 2017. Over the last 25 years, Mr. Clark has written over 4,000 movie reviews and film related articles and is one of the scant few conservative-minded U.S. film critics. Read Michael Clark's Reports — More Here.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.