A documentary maker with a heart, Sasha Snow is also a consummate craftsman, and “The Troublemaker” is a tour de force. Clocking in at just under an hour, a viewing is an existentially intense epic that seems to last … well, an existence. Framed around the talking head of charismatic Roger Hallam, cofounder of Extinction Rebellion, and expanding into a deft coverage of XR’s 2019 campaigns, while drawing in another XR interview and footage of the damage already being wrought by global warming, The Troublemaker is the most intellectually and emotionally call to climate emergency action I have witnessed. Hallam’s piercing analysis of our current crisis and his own account of metamorphosis from organic farmer to nonviolent-direct-action rebel leader is riveting, sentence-by-sentence riveting. On two occasions, his words, so forensically and scientifically accurate, but oh so passionate, set me to tears. The film’s cinematography is sumptuous, the soundtrack (by Adem Ilhan) is gorgeous, and Snow’s direction is intelligent. All up, this is a must-see in 2020, perfectly capturing our moment between one age, of humanity’s ignorance of its own existential peril, and a new age of ameliorative and restorative action.
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