''Greedy Lying Bastards'' is a 2012 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by

Craig Rosebraugh Craig Rosebraugh (born April 15, 1972) is an American writer, filmmaker and activist advocating for political and social justice, and environmental and animal protection. Activism A political activist since the early 1990s when he opposed the ...

. The film explores the phenomenon of

climate change denial Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetor ...

Content

''Greedy Lying Bastards'' investigates the

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

misinformation campaign waged by the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of hydrocarbon exploration, exploration, extraction of petroleum, extraction, oil refinery, refining, Petroleum transport, transportation (often by oil tankers ...

and its funded

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

s. The film exposes how a small number of well-paid spokespeople have worked to confuse the public and lawmakers on the issue. Both

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

and

Koch Industries Koch, Inc. () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiarie ...

are identified in the film as two of the worst culprits funding the denial campaign. In addition to exposing the denial campaign, ''Greedy Lying Bastards'' tells the stories of those currently impacted by changing climate. These include residents of

Kivalina Kivalina () is a city and village in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 377 at the 2000 census and 374 as of the 2010 census. The island on which the village lies is threatened by rising sea levels and coa ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

who are faced with relocation due to erosion of shorelines caused from rising temperatures and those in

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

facing

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

. "The film also covers the 2012 Colorado wildfires, drought in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

art of the wider 2010–13 Southern United States and Mexico drought">2010–13 Southern United States and Mexico drought">art of the wider 2010–13 Southern United States and Mexico droughtand Hurricane Sandy."

Production

''Greedy Lying Bastards'' was directed, produced and narrated by

. He co-wrote the film with two-time

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winning editor Patrick Gambuti, Jr., who also served as editor.

Daryl Hannah Daryl Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her film debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film ''The Fury (1978 film), The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various films across the ...

was an executive producer and

Michael Brook Michael Brook (born 1951) is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, music producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores. His collaborations with musicians around the worl ...

, who wrote the score for

An Inconvenient Truth ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former vice president of the United States Al Gore's campaign to educate people about Climate change, global warming. The film features a slide s ...

, was the composer. In making the film Rosebraugh sought to "undertake a project that would uncover the hidden agenda of the oil industry and provide answers as to why we as a nation fail to implement clean energy policies and take effective action on important problems such as climate change." The film began production in 2009 and finished late in 2012.

Release

''Greedy Lying Bastards'' was released theatrically in North America on March 8, 2013, where it grossed $45,000. Disinformation released it on home video January 14, 2014, and it grossed another $73,537 in North American sales.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

, reports that 67% of 36 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "It's not particularly subtle, but ''Greedy Lying Bastards'' is effective in questioning the motives of

climate change denier Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetor ...

s."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

rated it 56/100 based on 14 reviews.

Awards

* 2012

Burbank Film Festival The Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival held since 2009 in Burbank, California, United States. It was founded by Val Tonione, and awards are distributed to filmmakers that have focused on social and environmental ...

Best Documentary Feature * 2012

Boston Film Festival Boston Film Festival (BFF) is an annual film festival held in Boston in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It has been held annually since 1984, usually in early September. The Boston Film Festival premiered such notable films as '' The Last Kiss'' ...

Eco Award

Other festivals

* 2013 Reykjavik International Film Festival, Official Selection * 2013 Beijing International Film Festival, Official Selection * 2013 Environmental Film Festival (Washington D.C.), Official Selection * 2012 United Nations Association Film Festival, Official Selection * 2012

Bahamas International Film Festival The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) is a non-profit film festival held in the Bahamas. Open to both locals and international visitors, the festival was founded by Leslie Vanderpool in 2004. BIFF also hosts a youth film workshop that ...

, Official Selection * 2012 Costa Rica International Film Festival

References

External links

* * * * * {{Metacritic film 2012 films 2012 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about business Documentary films about global warming Films scored by Michael Brook Films set in 2012 Films set in Alaska Films set in Colorado Films set in Kansas Films set in Tuvalu Hurricane Sandy Petroleum industry 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films Climate change denial