Stream It Or Skip It: ‘All That Breathes’ on HBO Max, A Climate Change Doc Whose Unique Vision Really Takes Flight

It’s a bird … it’s a plane … it’s Oscar-nominated documentary All That Breathes, now streaming on HBO Max ahead of Hollywood’s biggest night. Though we’re living through a true boom of non-fiction filmmaking right now in terms of sheer quantity, Shaunak Sen’s singular vision also reminds us that we’re not lacking in quality, either. Without needing to rely on talking heads or archival footage, this doc investigates societal tensions with artistic aplomb.

ALL THAT BREATHES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: There’s something in the air over New Delhi — literally. A thick smog gives the Indian city a unique sense of miasma and malaise, and the consequences of that environmental phenomenon becomes tangible as the black kite birds begin suddenly falling from the sky. In recognition of their importance to the city’s ecosystem, brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud begin treating and rehabilitating these birds of prey. Their work began nearly two decades ago and reaches a key junction during the period observed in All That Breathes. Their quiet and unassuming labor, which occurs in a shared garage, swims upstream against the rising tides of ecological catastrophe and nationalist unrest focused on the Muslim minority to which the brothers belong.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: It’s hard to put a finger on comparable titles for a film that insists on having its own cinematic grammar. The closest species might be the documentaries of Gianfranco Rosi, who Sen name-checks as an inspiration for his own style. Fire at Sea, Rosi’s Oscar-nominated tale of the European migrant crisis, feels like somewhat of a blueprint in the way that it uses patiently observed scenes of everyday life to obliquely capture a society in microcosm.

Performance Worth Watching: Nadeem and Mohammad both make for captivating subjects, in large part because they don’t seem to be performing much at all. But the underrated star of the movie might just be their third staffer, Salik Rehman, whose soft-spoken charms match the film’s overarching sensibility. A moment where he’s tending to one bird only to have another one swoop in and swipe the glasses directly off his face might be the single most powerful image in All That Breathes.

Memorable Dialogue: “You don’t care for things because they share the same country, religion, or politics,” intones a voiceover at the conclusion of the film. “Life itself is kinship. We’re all a community of air.” In a film that resists easy sermonizing, this thesis hits all the harder when summing up all we’ve seen.

Sex and Skin: This is a film that ruffles some feathers, but not in THAT way.

Our Take: Shaunak Sen makes the abstract nature of climate change concrete by showing the tangible impact on the creatures of the Earth. By eschewing conventions of nature and political docs alike, All That Breathes makes for a powerful rumination on forces we can feel gnawing away at the literal and figurative fabric of our world. The film gently strings together its observations that might not feel significant in isolation, but resist the urge for restlessness or boredom. These moments accumulate to something astutely observed and quietly revelatory.

Our Call: STREAM IT! All That Breathes finds a unique documentary language to explore the connective tissue that ties us all together and is fraying dangerously at the edges. It’s a potent reminder that documentary cinema can show, not just tell, when it comes to big issues affecting the world. Sen provides not just a line of sight into these themes but a way of seeing altogether.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Watch All That Breathes on HBO Max