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Best film: The End Of The Line

Chosen,Greta Scacchi
Saturday 17 April 2010 00:00 BST
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(RANKIN/TRUNKARCHIVE.COM)

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It's a low-budget film, but it's made by people who are clearly very well informed. It was conceived by the environmental writer Charles Clover; you can feel, as you watch, that this is someone who's been intrepid in his research. It's a bit like a thriller.

What The End of the Line has raised is that the seas cover two-thirds of the earth, and that a healthy sea is responsible for absorbing 50 per cent of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. Scientists are convinced we'll be measuring a decline in the seas' ability to absorb this carbon-dioxide and turn it into healthy oxygen, as to do this the ocean requires an acid balance that is controlled by the living creatures in it. Overfishing is already resulting in the "acid-isation" of parts of the sea, where nothing lives except molluscs and worms. The industry needs to be policed, and countries need to establish "no-fishing" sanctuaries. But with regeneration, we could have a bountiful sea.

The film features professors whose access to authentic research, and clear lack of ulterior motive, paints a very bleak picture of man's destruction of one of our most important resources. We see every stage of the market, from criminal boats on the high seas to the expensive eating houses in Japan and London. It's very courageous and witty – I do like documentaries where there's a sense of the personality behind it.

I started a campaign with some celebrity friends to attract media attention and we held a premiere for the film. The photo of me naked with a fish helped to get interest from some papers who were really interested in whether or not I had pubic hair – but at least we got a mention of tuna in!

Film is absolutely a way to raise awareness. The last episode of the BBC series South Pacific was good, and then there was The Cove, the Oscar-winning documentary about the really hideous treatment of dolphins. Even Avatar helped to raise awareness about green issues for younger viewers.

Interview by Holly Williams. 'The End of the Line' is available now on DVD

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