The film opens with magnificent images of nature consisting of a volcano eruption and cave drawings almost resembling the beginning of man kind. Other images consist of great canyons and deserts and a world without man. However, as the film progresses, through the use of sped up images and video sequences, Godfrey creates the illusion of how humans have had a presence on nature and destroyed the landscape. The film then turns to images of smokestacks, factories and rockets.
I believe that Godfrey and the cinematographers intended for the first shot of smokestacks to make the audience and the spectators feel a sense of horror to witness first hand the impact we have had on the world as we can only hold ourselves accountable for the damage caused. I feel he wanted us to almost feel a sense of remorse and karma for what we have done and now mother nature will react and rebel back.
Similarly, the fast-acti0n photography paired with the imagery of people moving quickly 'to their thousands of individual destinations' (Roger Ebert, 1983) creates the illusion of how insignificant our individual lives are in perspective to the wider world and the vast population. Our lives individually are so insignificant however when partnered and collectively joined with the rest of the world, are destructive against the environment.
The soundtrack helped add to the illusion, adding a sense of emotion and danger to the images being portrayed on screen.
Overall I would thoroughly recommend watching this film even to get a sense of individual lives against nature and how we are seen as one but also collectively,
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