SXSW 2021 | Directors Jason Sussberg And David Alvarado Stay On Brand Covering Stewart Brand In "We Are As Gods"
9/12 ForReel Score | 3.5/5 Stars
There is no shortage of positive things to say about Stewart Brand. A life-long conservationist and founder of The Whole Earth Catalog, Brand has lived a very storied life. So it makes sense that science documentary filmmakers David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg would take on recording such a figure. We Are As Gods comprehensively covers Brand’s personal life, his work in conservatism, and his ambitions for the future. There’s a lot to take in, but it’s a worthy story to experience, and Alvarado and Sussberg make good work of distilling it all for audiences.
The title We Are As Gods comes from a quote by Stewart Brand: “We are as gods, and might as well get good at it.” Well, the documentary shows Brand trying to learn how to get good at it as he pursues a theory that de-extinction of the woolly mammoths could help stabilize the global climate change crisis. In addition to learning about Brand’s career, We Are As Gods covers Brand’s adventurous personal life, his struggles and setbacks, and his optimism for the future beyond his lifetime.
Alvarado and Sussberg are well versed in bringing scientific figures to film. Their previous collaborations include SXSW selected documentary features The Immortalist, about two eccentric biologists in search of eternal youth (available on Amazon Prime), and the critically acclaimed Bill Nye: Science Guy (available on Netflix). Following up Bill Nye is a tall order, but the story David and Jason cover here in We Are As Gods is timely and relevant. The difference with here is there seems to be a lot of ground to cover when talking about Stewart Brand.
In fact, the drawback for conveying Brand’s story is that perhaps there is too much to absorb in one feature documentary. The effort to focus on the most crucial components of Brand’s life is evident in We Are As Gods, but as Brand pursued many of objectives throughout his lifetime, packing it all into the 94 minute runtime is a tough feat. It can be overwhelming to the many who are not formerly familiar with Brand, but that fact only endorses the choice to record him and his efforts in this way, and Alvarado and Sussberg are good at keeping it all engaging.
And what’s most admirable about We Are As Gods is the documentary’s ability to present Brand’s climate change message while also demonstrating the struggles and roadblocks to making that happen. We Are As Gods never affirms that Brand’s ideas are the correct way forward, but offers his controversial ideas like de-extinction as a creative, science-based option to consider.
Perhaps by the end you’ll agree with Brand’s perspective on de-extinction. Perhaps you won’t. The point here is that after the credits roll, you’ll likely talk about it. What is clear by the end of We Are As Gods is Brand walks his walk; hungry for new ways of doing things, foolish for being so persistent about it. We Are As Gods captures that spirit, and afterwards when the conversations begin, Brand’s phrase “Stay hungry. Stay foolish” seems to morph from a personal belief to an open invitation.
Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 2 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 1 | What does this mean?