Closed Captioned
Study Guide
Grades 10-12, College, Adult
Directed by Michelle Metivier
Produced by Robert Lang
DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45
US Release Date: 2003
Copyright Date: 2002
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-891-0
VHS ISBN: 1-59458-016-2
Subjects
Agriculture
Anthropology
Asian Studies
Astronomy
Ecology
Energy
Environmental Ethics
Forests and Rainforests
Humanities
Indigenous Peoples
Philosophy
Religion
Renewable Energy
Science
Technology
Society
Awards and Festivals
National Primetime Broadcast on PBS
Science and Society Prize, International Television Science Program Festival, Paris
Golden Sheaf Award, Best Science/Nature, Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival
Platinum Remi, WorldFest-Houston International Independent Film Festival
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
Planet in Focus, Toronto International Environmental Film Festival
Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival
Seeing Science Film Festival, Milan
The Fire of Creation
Suzuki explores the latest scientific findings which amplify the age-old reverence for the sun.
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"A timeless piece, brilliantly conceived and executed, and an example of science and environment exposition at its best." E. O. Wilson, Harvard University |
All life on Earth is forged in the furnace of the sun. This vast energy source, one million times larger than Earth, bathes us, from a distance of 93 million miles, in life-giving rays.
THE FIRE OF CREATION begins with the sun filling the sky, bursting into the star-pricked blackness of space with a pyrotechnic spectacle of shifting, scorching images.
This, Southern California cosmologist Brian Swimme tells David Suzuki and his grandson Tamo, is the way the cosmos began: in a single Big Bang, approximately 13 billion years ago, matter coalesced, and the stars turned on.
Swimme considers each day's dawn as a cosmic act of generosity - a vast giveaway of energy. We are all children of the sun, accumulating cosmic energies, transforming them into matter. Throughout the ages human beings have revered this sacred flame. As David discovers on this journey, the findings of science amplify that reverence.
With cosmologist Brian Swimme, and anthropologist Stephen Lansing.
The other titles in this series are:
Journey into New Worlds - Suzuki celebrates the birth of a new scientific worldview that is holistic rather reductionist.
The Matrix of Life - Suzuki travels the world exploring our intimate relationship with water and air.
Coming Home - Suzuki explores biophilia -- the innate, hereditary need of human beings to affiliate with nature.
Reviews
"THE SACRED BALANCE is a spiritual, holistic and almost poetic take on the science of the planet...it launch[es] the viewer's mind into a different space."
"Suzuki's talent has always been to take broad scientific topics and decipher and deliver them to viewers in plain, accessible terms. He's very good at it...while there's much to digest in this series, his tone is always patient and pragmatic"
"The Sacred Balance is a challenge to all who watch it, a cornucopia of amazing comments and predictions. It's designed to make you think."
"Stunning cinematography and state of the art computer graphics"
"An enthralling, beautifully shot series...It's one of the most important and engrossing programs you'll see all year... [it] might very well go down as the crowning achievement in the career of David Suzuki."
"A timeless piece, brilliantly conceived and executed, and an example of science and environment exposition at its best."
"Strikingly beautiful and sometimes even profound...[it] becomes increasingly affecting as it piles up scientific research with remarkable dexterity."
"Recommended"
"[A] captivating examination of how the Earth's systems interact and depend on one another...Approaching the subject from a wide variety of cultural and philisophical viewpoints, Suzuki makes the point that we are a vital part of this 'web of life, ' and challenges viewers to feel that connection and then change the way we act towards our planet."
"Features stunning visuals and is unique in providing a multicultural perspective and philosophical points of view not usually studied with science."