He is a Force of Nature

Country: Canada
Year: 2009
Runtime: 93 min.

Last weekend, I went to see the documentary about Dr. David Suzuki entitled Force of Nature by Sturla Gunnarsson (made such films as the 2006 Beowulf and Grendel) at the Toronto International Film Festival.

At 75 years old, Suzuki is still going strong and shares a more emotional side with viewers of this film when he is taken to Japan (where his grandparents lived) and the internment camp where he and his family were forced to go from Vancouver - the only home his parents had ever known. The doc spends lots of time exploring Suzuki's relationship with his father and how the humiliation of what happened to Japanese-Canadians after Pearl Harbor effected the families. You can see how this event helped to propel Suzuki forward to become a leader in his field and he found drive in himself to speak out about what he was passionate about: nature and science. We get to see the early days of Suzuki and broadcasting and the evolution his own storytelling takes as he shares the secrets of nature's science with all of us.

The film is framed around Suzuki's "legacy lecture" which he gives at the University of British Columbia to a sold-out crowd. What does he share as part of his "last" lecture to the avid listeners? Science, of course! Suzuki if very much a scientist, a geneticist to be precise, and we see much of this throughout the film. The lecture was actually the last part filmed and we learn from director and subject that the documentary process played quite a part in shaping Suzuki's legacy talk.

Something I thought we'd see more of is Suzuki current family (I believe he has four children, but we really only seem to focus on one). At the film screening itself, Dr. Suzuki was there and he admitted wanting to see more of his wife, Dr. Tara Cullis. Suzuki also admits how difficult is was to see the film for the first time.

I am glad that Sturla Gunnarsson shared this glimpse into Suzuki's more private life and how he became the Force of Nature. Readers of my blog can probably tell this environmentalist has definitely been and continues to be a sort of hero of mine. I find it beyond impressive that even at 75, Suzuki is still on the road, delivering presentations and creating radio shows about the most pressing environmental issues that we face today and will be facing tomorrow.

As always, if you're looking for an org. to support, visit: www.davidsuzuki.org to learn about volunteering opportunities near you.