Earth and the American Dream

In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered ''The New World'' and exclaimed that its rivers were filled with gold. Columbus'seduction of the Promised Land is the beginning of a story of love and deceit, the story of Ealth and the American Dream. The thoughts of, among others, Christopher Columbus, Alexis de Tocqueville and Henry Ford are quoted and accompany images of endless mountains of garbage, gigantic used car dumps and overpopulation. What is the price paid by the earth for the realization of ''the American Dream''?

COMMENTARY
A strikingly beautiful och straightforward documentary on the common destiny of man and nature since the 15th century. In a series of tableaux we get to accompany man through the ages, his constant need to conquer, become bigger, better - the biggest!
There are no synchronized sound-recordings in the film, only a stl-aightforward picture story with quotes in voice over from Cristopher Columbus to Black Elk, via such men as Henry Ford and Jacques Costeau.
The film relates the progress of man, the advances made. It is about different peoples' attitudes towards the earth and how this has affected the development. ''The Earth is holy'', the Indian says.
The white man replies: ''If the Indians are too lazy to dig up whatever gold is available we have to do it...''
Earth and the American Dream brings us into the era of industrialization. The escalation of production. The escalation of military output. The reaction of the earth. The human sacrifices.
The film brings us forward in time, to the happy advertising of the 5[s with its gaudy colors and indispensable electrical domestic appliances.
The birth of the middle class. Now everybody wants to have a good life. Now everybody wants.
The film asks questions about why nobody considered the consequences of our greed and the way we could do the earth damage. About the fact that we keep saying infinitely, ever since the turn of the century: We cannot stop. The standard of living demands ... unemployment demands ...
It brings us into the 70's, the 80's, where people sit in front of their television sets which pour out information on all natural disasters caused by human hand. The earth's reaction to hundreds of years of human exploitation.
Beautiful music. Pompous. Militant progress takes on an incl-easingly sad note. Before everything collapses with an enormous explosion we hear Jimi Hendrix' wailing electric guitar whimper forth the American national anthem, as if it were screaming for h~p, c~up, b~e~ng.
The film gives an incredibly comprehensive viewpoint of the rapid development we have experienced. Not only in North America, but in the entire Western world, ever since the day Columbus discovered the land of the Indians.
The American Dream represents everybody's dl-eam of expansion. But some bloody time we will have to consider the cost! Earth and the American Dream is rich in images, a film filled with music and poetry, demanding consideration. ':'
Jannike Grut