How do you take the life of an icon of Canadian science and culture, the sum of his knowledge and wisdom and summarize it in a 90 minute film?

That’s what Sturla Gunnarson (“Beowulf and Grendel”, “Air India 182”, “Such a long Journey”), my friend and great filmmaker has done in a highly personal, very touching and truly effective way.

The idea of this movie came to producer Lazlo Barna, who wanted to make a film about Suzuki. He spoke about it to his Academy Award nominated filmmaker and friend Sturla Gunnarson. It took Sturla by surprise. He was reticent. So Lazlo introduced Sturla to David.  Alea jacta est!  The deal was sealed. The movie would be made with the collaboration of the NFB, CBC and E1.

As the movie opens, the 75 year old David Suzuki, looking like a sprightly middle-aged man, delivers his legacy speech in front of a sold-out, enrapt Vancouver audience. We get to know how the man became one of the most beloved figures of our country’s collective conscience.

Born and raised in Vancouver, young Suzuki and his family were interned after the Pearl Harbor bombings. No matter that Suzuki, his sisters and parents were all born and raised in Canada. After Pearl Harbor, there was a prevalent distrust of Japanese. We see how deeply affected he was by this injustice. After the camps, his family moved to rural Ontario.  David was a very lonely teenager. Estranged by racial discrimination, unable to approach girls he was so interested in, he took refuge in the most unlikely place: a swamp, a cauldron of life.  Fishing and observing nature became a passion. He found solace in nature and nature saved him. He had found his true purpose in life.

Gunnarson tells the story of Suzuki by interspersing his legacy lecture with flashbacks of the many phases of his life.  We understand what forged Suzuki’s character, persona and life-mission.  He speaks about his concerns for the planet and especially the consequences of relentless population growth and his perception of “humans as a super species now endowed with an ability to alter the biophysical features of the planet …thereby imperiling our own well being and very survival.”

As he enters the autumn of his life, Suzuki, the wise elder, delivers his vision for our sustainable future, and leaves us with an invaluable gift:  the sense of urgency and the power to make sense of what can de done. Suzuki feels time is running out. We must take action. His message is that it is not about Nature and Us but rather that we are all one.

We have the power to unite to save our planet and can do it one conscious act at a time.

A powerful and timely documentary not to be missed. A tour de force.

With gorgeous cinematography by eminent DOP Tony Westmann and a powerful soundtrack, “Force of Nature, The David Suzuki Movie”  is a must.