A Sense of Wonder - Documentary-style Film on Rachel Carson

[NEWisc]

A sense of Wonder

Produced by:
Sense of Wonder Productions LLC
Text by Ian Cheney

Rachel Carson has been called the patron saint of the modern environmental movement. A quiet biologist who shook the world with her revelations about America's use of pesticides in the years following World War II, Carson has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

The documentary-style film A Sense Of Wonder takes the form of two interviews with Rachel Carson during the last year of her life, as she battles cancer and her critics in the wake of publishing Silent Spring.

The second interview takes place two months later in her winter home outside Washington D.C., where her life is embroiled in the furor over Silent Spring. Miss Carson is simultaneously battling the chemical industry, the government, the press, and her ongoing illness. As she struggles to get her message to Congress, she recounts with humor and anger the attacks on her by the chemical industry, and recalls the arduous but triumphant process that resulted in Silent Spring.

A Sense Of Wonder | PBS


I watched this film on my local PBS station last night. It's a fascinating and intimate look into the last year of her life. At times you will feel the tears welling up in your eyes; at other times you will feel your fists begin to clench. The criticisms that she had to endure will remind you of the criticisms that today's environmentally conscious voices have to endure.

If you have a chance to watch it I highly recommend it. There is also a DVD available:

The program is an intimate reflection of author Rachel Carson's life as she emerges as America's most successful advocate for the natural world. Using many of Miss Carson's own words, it depicts Carson in the final year of her life. Carson recounts with both humor and anger the attacks by the chemical industry, the government, and the press as she focuses to get her message to Congress and the American people.

A Sense of Wonder DVD - shopPBS.org

[Equilibrium]

I wonder if this is available from Netflix. I gotta get off this computer and in the car so I can get to where I need to be. Would somebody bump this so it shows up in my thread watch thingie when I come back home so I can check out where to see it.... this is definitely something I need to watch.

[jack]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

I wonder if this is available from Netflix. I gotta get off this computer and in the car so I can get to where I need to be. Would somebody bump this so it shows up in my thread watch thingie when I come back home so I can check out where to see it.... this is definitely something I need to watch.

Hi Equil. I did a search on this film in all of my usual "hideout" internet places but found it available only for purchase or rental. It's not cheap at Amazon at fifteen dollars, but you may watch it there for a rental fee of three dollars.

[Equilibrium]

I can wait.... sooner or later it'll show up on Netflix or on PBS at a time when I can actually sit down and watch it.

[Gloria]

Sounds like a movie to see. I have read about Rachel Carson's life and how she worked for public awareness. She was a scientist with a strong sense of wonder and her work is still very relevant today.