‘It kind of looks like Mordor.’ That’s Leonardo DiCaprio’s verdict on the aerial view over Suncor’s oil sands mining operation in Alberta, Canada. In his role as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, the Academy Award winning actor takes up the cause of climate change in Before the flood. The documentary looks at what manmade emissions are doing to our planet now, and gives a warning of things to come unless we take action. The title refers to the middle panel of the 15th century painter Hieronymus Bosch’s work The garden of Earthly delights, in which Earth no longer resembles the paradise in the first panel and humans are beginning to influence and mix with the landscape they inhabit. This kick-starts the garden’s transformation into the into a barren, hellish wasteland that is depicted in the third panel. This precarious situation is analogous to the real-life state of our planet, DiCaprio warns, and unless humanity changes its ways this descent will continue past the point of no return.

Science-wise the film doesn’t go into great detail – carbon dioxide and methane emissions get a few mentions, but that’s about it. The emphasis is very much on the impacts, and the story is peppered with shocking statistics. We hear that Arctic sea ice could be completely gone by 2040, that 50% of the world’s coral has been lost in the last 30 years, and that the costs of climate change will have amounted to an estimated $44 trillion (£35 trillion) by 2060.

Stunning aerial footage helps to hammer the message home – in a journey around the world DiCaprio witnesses the thinning ice, as well as vast swathes of tropical forest being burned to the ground to create palm oil plantations, and of course the bare, Mordor-like oil sands landscape. Some of these shots were, in my opinion, more powerful than any statistic for reminding us the sheer scale of destruction of which we as humans are capable. https://www.chemistryworld.com/review/before-the-flood/2500458.article 

one of the comment i found interesting  on the movie is "Did you know that the North Pole probably will be melted by the year 2040? Or that there are water wars on this earth already, because drinking water is narrow?

Neither did I. Before the flood, a documentary produced by Fisher Stevens featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, is supposed to show us the consequences and effects the climate change has and will have on our earth.  DiCaprio used his position and influence to travel around the globe for two years, not only to give us a look at the catastrophic change global warming is causing already, but to raise awareness for the urgency to take action now. A mixture of phenomenal records and important conversations with politicians, CEO's and people affected by climate change already leaves us with a documentary that is incredibly shocking, yet informative.  But Leonardo says, that he still has hope. For the earth, climate and humanity. So if we all finally decide to take action immediately, I would follow his optimistic attitude and hope, that the problem climate change still can be solved. I would definetly recommend this documentary, because it is very fact based but still entertaining- and the most important part is, that it leaves the viewer with not only a feeling of having to change something, but also ways to do so."