In 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world's imagination. Filmmaker Jerry Rothwell examines the early days of Greenpeace and co-founder Bob Hunter's commitment to environmental issues.
2 December 1950, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
13 October 1941, St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada
1947, White Harbour, British Columbia, Canada
4 April 1970, Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada
October 01, 2015
An inspiring, affecting odyssey about flower children transforming into a "seagoing gang of ecological bikers".
August 07, 2015
Whatever you think of Greenpeace's less well-considered antics over the years, How to Change the World is a compelling story of one environmentalist's remarkable combination of prescience, grit and timing.
August 06, 2015
Almost a "found footage" movie, it makes excellent use of 1,500 archived 16 mm reels supplemented with fresh interviews and some animation.
October 29, 2015
This absorbing account is hardly definitive, but it teaches movement building without denying the high costs paid by true believers.
January 23, 2015
The goldmine of 16mm color footage, whose propagandic value participants were quite cognizant of at the time, is in mint condition, showing the excitement and fun of the movement in its earliest days.
September 15, 2015
A warts-and-all history of Greenpeace full of colorful characters and beset by twists and surprises. An inspiring, even exhilarating tribute.
September 11, 2015
It's fun and eventful, if hardly revelatory.
September 16, 2015
Rothwell does a great job organising this material. It becomes an epic story, partly because of the clashes of ego between these passionate men.
September 25, 2015
Flat-out excellent documentary detailing the origins, evolution and internal squabbling of Greenpeace. Far from propaganda.
September 10, 2015
Jerry Rothwell's punchy film is less concerned with the official Greenpeace narrative than with the often conflicting testimonies of those involved.
October 29, 2015
A fascinating, skillfully assembled chronicle of the rise and inevitable fallout surrounding the granddaddy of the environmental activism movement.
December 12, 2015
How to Change the World is in clear sympathy with the environmental causes Greenpeace champions but its portrait of the organisation is quite spiky and probing.
