''Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet'' is a 2021 documentary film directed by Jon Clay, and presented by

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

and

Johan Rockström Johan Rockström (born 31 December 1965) is a Swedish scientist, internationally recognized for his work on global sustainability issues. He is joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, together with ...

Synopsis

''Breaking Boundaries'' tells the story how humans are pushing Earth beyond the boundaries that have kept the planet stable for 10,000 years, following scientific journey of Rockström and his team's discovery of the nine

planetary boundaries Planetary boundaries are a framework to describe limits to the impacts of human activities on the Earth system. Beyond these limits, the environment may not be able to continue to self-regulate. This would mean the Earth system would leave th ...

Production

The film was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on 4 June 2021. Alongside the film's release, a book of the same name was published, with a foreword from

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...

. The film was directed by Jon Clay, and executive produced by

Alastair Fothergill Alastair David William Fothergill (born 10 April 1960) is a British producer of nature documentary, nature documentaries for television and cinema. He is the series producer of the series ''The Blue Planet'' (2001), ''Planet Earth (2006 TV ser ...

, Colin Butfield, Kate Garwood,

Keith Scholey Keith Scholey (born 24 June 1957 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) is a British producer of nature documentary, nature documentaries for television and cinema, and a former television executive. He is currently a joint Director of Silverback Films Ltd ...

, and Jochen Zeitz. Original music was composed by Hannah Cartwright and Ross Tones. Attenborough had previously appeared in two other

Netflix Original Netflix is an American global Internet streaming-on-demand media provider that has distributed a number of original streaming television shows, including original series, specials, miniseries, documentaries and films. Netflix's original produ ...

films, ''

Our Planet ''Our Planet'' is a British nature documentary series made for Netflix. The series is narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Silverback Films, led by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, who also created BBC documentary series ''Planet ...

'' and '' David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet''.

Reception

Reviews of ''Breaking Boundaries'' were generally mixed.

Kevin Maher Kevin Andrew Maher (born 17 October 1976) is a former professional footballer and coach who played as a midfielder. He is head coach of National League side Southend United. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland international ...

gave the film three out of five stars. '' The New York Times''' Calum Marsh criticised the films use of visualisations, in particular the CGI humans, as "laughable" in effect. Elle Hunt noted that the film is unusual compared to most Attenborough documentaries in that it focuses on planetary decline. Nick Allen of

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

awarded the film two stars out of five.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, m/breaking_boundaries_the_science_of_our_planet, Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet Documentary films about global warming Netflix original documentary films 2020s English-language films English-language documentary films Films produced by Keith Scholey