The 1992 documentary tells the story of The American Dream "from the environment's point of view", as HBO describes it, and the price that was paid to make it come true. It is narrated by a huge cast of then-and-now-famous actors reading famous quotes from historical figures of all kinds throughout our country's history. It begins exactly 500 years previous with the landing of Columbus, and progresses through all our major eras, including the ravaging of the land, the displacement and killing of the Native Americans and the great killing of the American Buffalo, The Industrial Revolution, the boom and subsequent Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Great Depression, the Atomic Age, the advent of electricity in every home, the Space Race, and the destruction of the environment.
This documentary aired on HBO back in October 1992 with periodic repeats for about six months after. The footage is quite beautiful, even for a 32 year old, made-for-premium-TV documentary that would end up being all but forgotten.
A question the film poses all throughout is when will we learn that we have only this one planet and that we are all one people? It is interesting to look back to see how little has really changed.
Featuring the celebrity voices of:
Ed Asner - Alec Baldwin - Ned Beatty - Ed Begley, Jr. - Lloyd Bridges - Ellen Burstyn - James Caan - Jacques Cousteau - Peter Coyote - Harrison Ford - Mel Gibson - Lee Grant - Graham Greene - Gene Hackman - Dustin Hoffman - Anthony Hopkins - Jeremy Irons - Michael Keaton - Jack Lemmon - Karl Malden - E.G. Marshall - Bette Midler - Haing S Ngor - Christopher Reeve - Mary Steenburgen - Rod Steiger - Sam Waterson - Dennis Weaver - and more.
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." – Thomas Sowell