The End Of The Line (12A)

THANKS a LOT, environment films.

Every time you watch one, you find out another "innocent pastime" is destroying the planet-whether it's going on cheap flights, eating take-away burgers, or machine-gunning white rhinos from the back of your gas-guzzling 4x4.

(Just joking. I drive a Fiesta.)

And the latest pleasure to be exposed as a kick in Mother Nature's nuts is eating fish-or some fish, anyway- thanks to this troubling film about the epic environmental screw-up happening in our oceans.

The End Of The Line's message is a simple one. By 2050, if we carry on the way we are, we won't have any edible fish left.

And it's convincing too-there are stats, surveys and interviews with fishermen and scientists from around the world, all meticulously pieced together to argue the point.

Frightening

Like other recent green docs such as An Inconvenient Truth and The Age Of Stupid, it gets the mix just right-a short documentary bit here, a frightening line graph there, and heroically bad science- hair everywhere.

Mercifully, there's no Michael Moore-ish ranting.

Journalist Charles Clover-who researched and presents the film-is level-headed, plausible, and not afraid to praise unlikely champions of eco fish either (McDonald's and Wal-Mart get the thumbs-up for using fish from renewable sources).

It's a great piece of investigative work, which will leave viewers in a knot of mixed emotions afterwards.

You'll feel (a) informed, about an approaching crisis you never even knew was happening; (b) concerned, about the fate of fish populations worldwide; (c) stirred, to do something to help . . .

And (d) really, really hungry, for a nice bit of grilled trout.

OUT NOW

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