Racing Extinction

"It's better to light one candle than curse the darkness."

2015 1h 30m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🍅

82%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.2

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 203🍅82%Rotten Tomatoes●81Metacritic★8.2IMDB · 8,430

AdventureDocumentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An unlikely team of activists and innovators hatches a bold mission to save endangered species.

“It's better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Elon Musk
Self
Jane Goodall
Self
Louie Psihoyos
Self
Leilani Münter
Self
Charles Hambleton
Self
Heather Dawn Rally
Self
Joel Sartore
Self
Paul Hilton
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Louie Psihoyos
Writers: Mark Monroe
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lyman Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Elon Musk and Jane Goodall and Louie Psihoyos carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It's better to light one candle than curse the darkness.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1618448 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Louie Psihoyos directs. Lyman Smith cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 11 years ago.
3Editor Lyman Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Elon Musk and Jane Goodall and Louie Psihoyos carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "It's better to light one candle than curse the darkness.".
6IMDB entry: tt1618448 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Editing: Lyman Smith
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Racing Extinction (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes: 82% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 81/100
IMDB rating: 8.2/10 · 8,430 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 8 nominations total

Also by

Louie Psihoyos

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-04-04
★ 10/10
A small contribution by everyone matters a lot. The organism survives only if the surrounding environment favours. But it takes thousands of years of evolution to find its right place. Its existence is only to restore the balance in the nature as much as fast it can. Because the organism moves one place to another and help elements to meet one another which can't do themselves, in a result the reaction happen. The extinction happens when the balance between naturally existing elements and living organism was disturbed. The Earth has seen such five mass extinctions and now on the verge of sixth only because of one species, the man. There's no one in this universe to question his supremacy, but himself in the form of scientists, environmentalist et cetera. This documentary talks one of that small topic, analysing its root cause. From the Academy Award winning director for the documentary 'The Cove', once again, his focus came to bring the awareness about marine species that disappearing due to excessive hunting. From Japan's dolphin hunt to now the focus is on the Chinese's misbelief that causing animals like tigers, rhinos, marine animals to face the threat. In this film, the Oceanic Preservation Society followed the source to find how and where it all begins. Since it is related to marine life - shark fin and manta ray gill trade markets were the target. That leads the crew to travel all the way to Indonesia, where a small coastal village is one of the major supplier to the Chinese consumer. "We have this illusion that it's the big things in the environment that count. But if you lose the small things... Everything else fails." For the Chinese population density, just think what might cause if they believe in something that is not right. Since the rise of China's middle class, they can offer anything from anywhere in the world. Because of this demand the rich in biodiversity like India, Africa, Indonesia is affected due to poaching and other illegal activities. What they need is proper scientific education about their misbelief. Make the Chinese immigrants to mingle with the rest of the world, not to live and die in their own den called 'China city'. I am not a Chinese hater, but their misbelief is outrageous, especially for their population strength, it is 5 to 10 times faster than what the rest of the world's misbelief causing threat. Every nation has its own negatives, today it is China, tomorrow it will be India and then United States followed by Europe and Africa. Now it is not only up to the world leaders, but every citizen has to care, even a small contribution means a lot. The recent Paris climate conference has brought only a small halt, especially on the natural resourcing, yet other similar field has to come into force in a similar treaty. The civilisation happened when human thought he does not fit with the natural habitat anymore for his excessive brain power and left it once for all behind other species by creating his own world alongside. Animal and plant farming is the way he discovered to cope with his hunger. But what we don't know is these farming is still occurring on the face of the earth that contributes whatever the changes the planet sees. But that does not it, overpopulation is another bigger issue. There are more consumers than farmers and farm products, thus leading us to go back to wild to hunt which is seriously causing imbalance in chemical and biological world. "So, this is really the last line of defense, keeping animals that are extinct in the wild in a captive situation." Goats, sheeps, chickens never go extinct, not under the human watch. Because since the time of human came to exist, till now, these livestock animals' count exceeds more than any other species ever lived on the Earth, including human. You breed it immoderately and kill it immoderately, it does not matter till you're not affecting the natural inhabitant. My point is these animals need plants and if plants go extinct, the oxygen supply will be cut off leading global warming to the next mass extinction. So it needs to be balanced, which can be done by balancing daily our diet between meat and plant. When the demand automatically reduce, the restoration begins. Here the 'automatically' means in the hands of humanity. That's what this film is trying to say. Focusing on the marine was their prime intention, but the discussion led to many other sub-topics. Unlike the director's previous film, it did not stay on one issue, but kept rotating on the various subjects by revealing the causes and the solution. At some point it lost its track, and started to advertise a fancy stuff. But that is a major way getting the attention of today's people in the digital world. Whatever you might think of me, but the truth is I was heartbroken several times while watching this film and had tears. This film is not a masterpiece, that's why it did not get an Oscars nominee except for an original song, nevertheless the voice it raised against is a true commitment. Recently I stopped to visit zoos, the place I consider is a prison for animals who have committed no crimes. But in todays world situation, looks like the captive is the final line of defence. If there is a another world, people with much more vigilant about their natural world, I would definitely like to go for it. But earth is what we all have and we're failing to take care, when it comes time to run, you will have no place to go. Just look at the recent reports of pollution in the Chinese cities, it is what I had seen in movies like 'The Mist', 'The Road', is all coming true. The apocalypse is not too far from reality. Like in this film say, it is not too late to join hands for good. 10/10

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