Movie: Herbicide Trials

  • HomePage

  • Overview

    In 1983, fifteen Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, landowners went to court to stop the spraying of herbicides by the local subsidiary of a Swedish multinational on forests adjacent to their properties. They found that the testimony of scientists and the support of public opinion, both here and abroad, were not enough to win their case. The film shows their ordeal and the landmark Sydney trial. Concerns raised included potential conflict-of-interest situations where a government must protect citizens' health while supporting certain kinds of industry; the relative value of the political and judicial processes in mediating social problems; and the need for a public forum for debating environmental issues. The film contains outstanding footage from chemical-industry films of the 1950s and recent material about Vietnam veterans affected by Agent Orange.

  • Release Date

    1984-06-01

  • Average

    7

  • Rating:

    3.5 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    English
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

Fuck
64%

Fuck(en)

2006-11-10

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story
61%

Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story(en)

2025-12-30

Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.

Naqoyqatsi
61%

Naqoyqatsi(en)

2002-09-02

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

A Plastic Ocean
75%

A Plastic Ocean(en)

2016-09-22

A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.

Mission Blue
74%

Mission Blue(en)

2014-01-30

This documentary follows oceanographer Sylvia Earle's campaign to save the world's oceans from threats such as overfishing and toxic waste.

Sidney
73%

Sidney(en)

2022-09-10

This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.

To Be Takei
72%

To Be Takei(en)

2014-08-22

Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.

Koyaanisqatsi
79%

Koyaanisqatsi(en)

1983-04-27

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends
71%

The Summers of It - Chapter Two: It Ends(en)

2019-12-10

This documentary focuses on the actors and their journey over two summers to create the remake to the original IT, by Stephen King. The documentary originally released as bonus material, bundled with IT: Chapter Two.

In the Realms of the Unreal
72%

In the Realms of the Unreal(en)

2004-01-15

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

The Crash Reel
73%

The Crash Reel(en)

2013-06-10

The Crash Reel tells the story of a sport and the risks that athletes face in reaching the pinnacle of their profession. This is Kevin Pearce’s story, a celebrated snowboarder who sustained a brain injury in a trick gone wrong and who now aims, against all the odds, to get back on the snow.

The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
70%

The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button(en)

2009-05-05

A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.

Powaqqatsi
73%

Powaqqatsi(en)

1988-04-29

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

Night Will Fall
76%

Night Will Fall(en)

2014-06-07

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
72%

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed(en)

2022-11-23

The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon
67%

The U.S. vs. John Lennon(en)

2006-09-15

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

Seaspiracy
78%

Seaspiracy(en)

2021-03-24

Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

Citizenfour
77%

Citizenfour(en)

2014-10-10

In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?
75%

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?(en)

2018-02-19

In 1977, a book of photographs captured an awakening - women shedding the cultural restrictions of their childhoods and embracing their full humanity. This documentary revisits those photos, those women and those times and takes aim at our culture today that alarmingly shows the need for continued change.

The Biggest Little Farm
76%

The Biggest Little Farm(en)

2019-06-05

The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.

Similar Movies

Der Sturm - Tiere bei Blitz und Donner
74%

Der Sturm - Tiere bei Blitz und Donner(de)

2023-09-13

Violent squalls, hail, waterspouts, lightning... storms put animals and plants to the test. At a time when climate change is multiplying extreme weather events, this documentary plunges into the heart of a storm, from the heavy, dry atmosphere that precedes it to the deluge that follows.

The Cost of Cobalt
0%

The Cost of Cobalt(en)

2021-03-31

In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.

The Wild Forest
80%

The Wild Forest(de)

2021-10-07

“Let nature be nature” is the philosophy of the Bavarian Forest National Park. Despite massive resistance, this vision has become a groundbreaking showcase project. Because humans do not interfere with nature, the former commercial forests grow into a primeval forest, a unique ecosystem and a refuge for biodiversity. People from all over the world come here. They are looking for answers to the question of why we need more wild nature and what we can learn from it to preserve forests for future generations in times of climate change.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet
75%

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet(en)

2021-06-03

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.

The White Planet
66%

The White Planet(fr)

2006-03-22

The White Planet or in French, La Planète Blanche, is a 2006 documentary about the wildlife of the Arctic. It shows interactions between marine animals, birds and land animals, especially the polar bear, over a one year period. The fragility of the Arctic is hinted at as a reason to prevent climate change. It was nominated for the Documentary category in the 27th Genie Awards in 2007.

Joe Lycett vs Sewage
0%

Joe Lycett vs Sewage(en)

2024-02-20

Joe Lycett investigates the mind-boggling quantities of untreated sewage discharged into our waterways every day, and takes the fight to the water companies in the most Joe Lycett way possible.

A Town Without Flies
0%

A Town Without Flies(ja)

1950-06-01

A teaching film for social studies, which was developed as a new educational subject in 1947. At an elementary school in Hokkaido, children have started a fly extermination campaign to improve school hygiene. In order to eliminate the causes of flies, the entire town is working to improve the sanitary environment. The short was filmed with the cooperation of Mizukaido Elementary School in Joso City and is the first film in the "Social Studies Teaching Film System" by Iwanami Film Productions.

Birds of America
72%

Birds of America(fr)

2022-05-25

In the first half of the 19th century, the French ornithologist Jean-Jacques Audubon travelled to America to depict birdlife along the Mississippi River. Audubon was also a gifted painter. His life’s work in the form of the classic book ‘Birds of America’ is an invaluable documentation of both extinct species and an entire world of imagination. During the same period, early industrialisation and the expulsion of indigenous peoples was in full swing. The gorgeous film traces Audubon’s path around the South today. The displaced people’s descendants welcome us and retell history, while the deserted vistas of heavy industry stretch across the horizon. The magnificent, broad images in Jacques Loeuille’s atmospheric, modern adventure reminds us at the same time how little - and yet how much - is left of the nature that Audubon travelled around in. His paintings of the colourful birdlife of the South still belong to the most beautiful things you can imagine.

Beavers
75%

Beavers(en)

1988-04-28

A story about several beaver families in their wild surroundings. The interesting process of building a dam can be watched as well as the dangers arising from hungry bears and other influences on the new-built home.

Blame Game
93%

Blame Game(en)

2018-09-15

As more and more of us use and replace electronic devices, manufacturers have failed to offer solutions for how to deal with the resulting waste. Much of it is exported to a toxic dump in Ghana, where scavengers do their best to salvage what they can.

Explorer: Lake of Fire
72%

Explorer: Lake of Fire(en)

2023-10-26

In 2001, satellite imagery captured a mysterious “thermal anomaly” on an unexplored volcano at the ends of the Earth. What lies inside could provide new clues to help predict volcanic eruptions around the globe. But the island is so remote with conditions that are so extreme. No one has ever been able to reach the top to investigate what lies inside.. until now.

Bakelite
0%

Bakelite(en)

2023-09-17

This underwater ballet is an ecological story depicting our paradoxical relationship with plastic. Bakelite launched the #SickOfPlastic campaign from On Est Prêt, along with the Surfrider Foundation, Break Free from Plastic and the Resilient Foundation. Photography was directed by Jacques Ballard, a specialist in underwater cinematography.

Bigger Than Us
71%

Bigger Than Us(en)

2021-09-22

For six years, Melati, 18, has been fighting the plastic pollution that is ravaging her country, Indonesia. Like her, a generation is rising up to fix the world. Everywhere, teenagers and young adults are fighting for human rights, the climate, freedom of expression, social justice, access to education or food. Dignity. Alone against all odds, sometimes risking their lives and safety, they protect, denounce and care for others. The earth. And they change everything. Melati goes to meet them across the globe. At a time when everything seems to be or has been falling apart, these young people show us how to live. And what it means to be in the world today.

Animal
73%

Animal(fr)

2021-12-01

16-year-old Bella and Vipulan are part of a generation convinced its very future is in danger. Between climate change and the 6th mass extinction of wildlife, their world could well be inhabitable 50 years from now. They have sounded the alarm over and over, but nothing has really changed. So they’ve decided to tackle the root of the problem: our relationship with the living world. Over the course of an extraordinary journey, they come to realize just how deeply humans are tied to all other living species. And that by saving them… we’re also saving ourselves. Humans thought they could distance themselves from nature, but humans are part and parcel of nature. For man is, after all, an Animal.

The Forest
90%

The Forest(en)

2024-12-16

The story of a brilliant ecologist with a plan to save the world by restoring the planet's forests. His original work was hijacked by corporations and politicians with disastrous effect. Now he's using science to fight back.

Scoggie
70%

Scoggie(en)

1975-01-01

This short documentary profiles 27-year-old Scoggie Watson, a Cape Breton stalwart who clings to the things he cherishes most: the waters of Lake Bras d'Or, his hand-built sailboat, his freedom, and the friends who stayed in Cape Breton instead of leaving for the big cities.

Après le déluge
75%

Après le déluge(fr)

2023-11-29

Herbstfeuer
0%

Herbstfeuer(de)

2026-02-05

A passionate hotel manager is obsessed with a clairvoyant's claim that he is to blame for the unexplained fire at his legendary grand hotel. To free himself from this burden, he teams up with an astute detective inspector to expose a former employee as the arsonist. This unexpectedly puts him at the centre of the investigation – and he must face the truth.