Some documentaries tell a story. Some offer an in-depth examination of an issue, event or person. Others push a viewpoint with poetic prose overlaid upon mostly pretty imagery. Unity falls into the latter category, a cinema slideshow about humanity’s potential and perils, shuffling through visuals designed to either enthral or shock, and voiced by more celebrities than have likely ever been on the same film’s line-up before. Its topic is ostensibly in its title, yet this collage of commentary does more than talk about connection and belonging.
The importance of banding together to writer/director Shaun Monson’s (Earthlings) missive is never in doubt, of course, as it unravels across five segments. What the chapters — named ‘Cosmos’, ‘Mind’, ‘Body’, ‘Heart’ and ‘Soul’ — stress most prominently, though, is a plea for acquiescence to the filmmaker’s way of thinking. That he begins the documentary with a cow being taken to slaughter is indicative of the shouting rather than whispering on display. Softer tones may provide the voiceover; however there’s nothing subtle about the way the content is staged and framed.
So meanders a cinema essay abundant in passion about the state of the planet, and the behaviours needed to bring about widespread change, as told from one forcefully conveyed, overtly simplified perspective. First, Monson stresses the insignificance of our place in the universe; then, he jumps through a raft of atrocities committed against animals and each other over the course of civilisation to highlight the impact the eating of meat has upon humanity and the earth.
That the scope of Unity is large by design can’t be missed. Nor can the contrasts it pushes, where minimalism and paring back consumption and the materialism this entails is posed as a big-screen display, narrated by a 101-strong famous cast. Indeed, it does feel like the masses of talent corralled to assist is designed to reflect the supposedly all-encompassing content, with everyone from Aaron Paul, Ben Kingsley, Ellen DeGeneres, Isabelle Lucas, Geoffrey Rush and Joel Edgerton to Kevin Spacey, Marion Cotilliard, Missy Higgins, Pamela Anderson and Tony Hawk involved. That their participation doesn’t equal endorsement is worth remembering, as a pre-film card makes clear. What first appears a curious inclusion soon becomes an understandable disclaimer shortly after the blunt, agenda-pushing feature kicks into gear.
For audiences swept away with the flow of sound and vision — and left undistracted by the parade of famous names and faces that pop up on screen every time someone takes over narration duties, which is every second line of dialogue at the most — Unity could present an engaging experience. For all the emotive, heartstring-pulling on a topic that no on could disagree with, i.e. that kindness and harmony among life forms is an aspired-to goal, Monson interweaves his stock images and rote statements into an immersive audio-visual package; however that’s just the dressing on otherwise poorly handled material.
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Unity
Director: Shaun Monson
USA, 2015, 99 mins
Release date: 12 August
Distributor: Mushroom Pictures
Rated: M
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