Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet’ on Netflix, in Which David Attenborough Explains Why Earth is (Almost) Doomed

Netflix’s relationship with international treasure David Attenborough continues with Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, a sobering documentary about how close humanity is to “a Mad Max future.” Please note, no matter how much you love Fury Road, this is not a good thing. Attenborough presents this 73-minute film version of Swedish scientist Johan Rockstrom’s book of the same name, which outlines nine categorical tipping points in Earth’s current path to environmental apocalypse. (Spoiler alert: it’s all humanity’s fault.) So note, this isn’t your usual Attenborough doc, since we get dozens of dire warnings and only one cute monkey reaction shot — although it also offers hope as a chaser for all its hard knowledge, so don’t just deep sigh and switch over to Sweet Tooth just yet.

BREAKING BOUNDARIES: THE SCIENCE OF OUR PLANET: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Attenborough is all but eternal in his wisdom, so don’t underestimate his assertion that Rockstrom is giving us “the most important scientific insight of our times.” Rockstrom has broken down a bevy of complex scientific data into an approachable summary of the state of Earth’s overall health — and when I say “approachable” I mean it’s presented in a manner that laypeople can understand, although the message is one that’s damn difficult to digest. The planet has officially exited the Holocene epoch, a time when it was at a stable state to support life as we know it, and entered the Anthropocene, when we humans are “drivers of change on Earth.” This is a way of saying we no longer coexist with the planet, but dominate it with our actions. Terrified yet? You should be.

Rockstrom then starts working down his list of nine categories, which range from global warming to freshwater and rain forest health to manmade pollutants. We see animated illustrations showing how, in some instances, our actions may have pushed some environmental changes past the point of no return — for example, biodiversity, crucial to maintaining planetwide stability, has been significantly affected by overdevelopment, which loops back to the melting of the ice caps, which has upset environmental balance, causing terrible forest fires that in turn devastate even more species. Brace yourself, because you’re about to see normally rock-steady scientists lose their composure: One who studies coral reefs gets visibly and audibly choked up while discussing the rapid deterioration of those underwater ecosystems; another stands almost speechless in a burned-down Australian forest, looking at the utterly ravaged habitat of the birds she studies. “Jesus,” she mutters, later adding that she can’t even wrap her head around how many millions of animals were killed by the fires.

But! We’re not doomed yet. Rockstrom and Attenborough offer some “simple” solutions that could reverse some negative effects before they pass the point of no return and snowball down the mountain, like eating healthier foods and using less fossil fuels, stuff like that, implying that we as individuals can affect change, but never mentioning that that’s kind of a fallacy, that it’s sweeping policy, by governments and corporations, that truly affects change. But that’s just my cynicism showing through. Breaking Boundaries is full of blaring sirens, but it’s ultimately hopeful.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Breaking Boundaries exists in a similar headspace as the Greta Thunberg doc I Am Greta and fishing-industry expose Seaspiracy. Just don’t watch them all in the same night lest ye spiral into despair.

Performance Worth Watching: Piggybacking on Attenborough’s star power, Rockstrom appears in front of the camera and gives the film a credible voice. He’s calm, measured and matter-of-fact.

Memorable Dialogue: Rockstrom reveals what happens when scientists like himself are ignored when they sound the alarm about climate change: “I don’t get depressed. I get angry.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Breaking Boundaries isn’t the most thrilling documentary in presentation and style, but are you going to argue against its message? Rockstrom and Attenborough take the massive avalanche of evidence for humanity’s negative impact on the planet and condense it into its key components, sharing the main points and delegating deeper explanation to topical-expert talking heads, who don’t drag us into the weeds. Director Jon Clay’s presentation of the information could use more clarity and concision; he struggles to juggle all nine of Rockstrom’s categories, and uses a lot of goofy, repetitive, sometimes distracting animated graphics to gussy up the joint.

There’s the lingering sense that the film is preaching to the choir, even if that choir learns a few new notes beyond already widely disseminated discussions about the melting polar ice caps and the impact of deforestation in Brazil. Seeing scientists grieving the loss of life and habitat brings some emotional content — but not too much — to the tonally measured presentation of information. Late in the film, Attenborough and Rockstrom delve into the hole-in-the-ozone crisis of the 1980s, when “panic” set in and political action was taken to reverse the effect. If an asteroid was hurtling toward Earth, Rockstrom says, humanity would come together and do what has to be done. But nobody gets into why the climate crisis isn’t treated with the same urgency (I have an idea: politics and widespread denial and ignorance). There’s a lot of ecological-disaster documentaries out there; if Rockstrom is as angry as he says he is, this film would have more bite.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Breaking Boundaries doesn’t quite live up to typical Attenborough excellence, but its message is worthy, and even though some of us have seen our share of docs like this, you’ll likely learn something new from it.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet on Netflix