In 2020, producer-director Matthew Brady, in collaboration with the animal welfare charity American Humane, made a well-meaning but oddly hectoring documentary called Escape from Extinction, narrated by Helen Mirren, which took the pragmatic view that zoos were vital in preserving animal species in danger of dying out. The larger causes of environmental calamity were evidently beyond its remit. But now we have a bland and anodyne sequel narrated by Meryl Streep, which says that rewilding is vital for preserving and reviving endangered species.
But by “rewilding” the film basically means, in the first instance, investing in national parks as semi-managed habitats – so in effect, very big zoos. In its opening section, the film actually questions whether there is anywhere purely “wild” on Earth any more. Like an educational video to be shown to parties of schoolchildren, the film gives us brightly feelgood upbeat examples of conservationists working in tandem with politicians, businesses and communities, to rescue various species in the ocean or on land.
