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Richard Curtis goes dark for climate change film
Video: 10:10 campaign pulls film that blows up schoolchildren and David Ginola
What was he thinking? Richard Curtis had backing from a host of charities and celebrities for his short film, No Pressure, on the 10:10 project – a campaign to reduce our carbon emissions by 10 per cent starting this year. Gillian Anderson, Peter Crouch, David Ginola and Ledley King had all agreed to appear in the film, and music was donated by Radiohead.
And then, Curtis decided to write a joke.
In each segment of the four minute short, zealous environmental campaigners use detonators to literally blow up members of the public, including schoolchildren, who choose not to work with them. Once the naysayers have been blown to smithereens, the campaigners go about their day as if nothing happened.
Unfortunately for Curtis, the film has also blown up in his face. Within a few hours of its release, the 10:10 team pulled the film, posting an apology "to anyone we have offended".
In response, Curtis said: "I was worried that the environment is an issue that can seem worthy and we will all just drift into disaster. So I thought it was worth trying to write something unexpected.
"But when you try to be funny on a serious subject, it's obviously risky. I hope people who don't like the little film will still think about the big issue and try to do something about it." ·
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These climate Nazis are indeed worrying in their mentality. But their weakness is their increasing disability to see themselves through normal eyes. They did not expect the backlash against the video and had to withdraw it from their site. But of course this is meat and drink for the media, and James Delingpole and others, including this site, have rightly exposed the story. It is of course possible to find the original video nasty on YouTube as people who are wanting the truth to be out there are posting it up for all to see. You could search on "no problem" if you are prepared for some gruesome scenes.
It's a sick film by sick people. This was not something dreamed up in a moment of folly - this was carefully planned, funded, filmed and released. I don't see anything funny about executing children in a classroom, or employees at work, because of their beliefs. If a teacher can kill pupils for having a different opinion why can't they be mercilessly bullied? The film chose execution by explosion, like a suicide bomber. How comfortable would those who find this funny be if the teacher were to walk up to the pupil and fire bullets into their heads, or stab them mercilessly a dozen times, or, if a male teacher, punch them so hard in the face as to kill them? If detonating charges to kill them is so funny, how about raping them in front of the class - why would that be any less funny? This is not an escapist cartoon or fantasy, it's filmed to look like a real classroom. When you laugh at violence being done to others because of their views (or their ethnicity etc) then I think you have crossed the line. Franny Armstrong, founder of 10:10 explained the film's moral purpose as follows: "What to do with these people [climate sceptics etc]..? Clearly we don't really think they should be blown up...but maybe a little amputating would be a good place to start."
What a sick woman, and a sick campaign.