I am Greta

I Am Greta

Director Nathan Grossman. Cast: Greta Thunberg

I have to make a confession here: I wasn’t too keen to watch this one at all. I really thought I already knew everything that there is to know, both about the girl and the issues she campaigns for. I’ve been a keen environmental campaigner myself too as those who know me (and see my constant posts online) are very all too aware of and for that reason I had the presumption to know everything about it. Well, let me tell you: I was wrong. It’s easy to piece together one plus one and draw a picture of Greta from what we’ve seen on television, on the news, what we read on the newspapers, the tabloids…. But the success of this documentary is the big headlines, beyond the speeches, the nasty looks at Trump, Greta is first and foremost a human being.

The documentary, though a little bit repetitive in a few places, has some incredible access and is able to produce some very intimate moments with Greta alone with her family, or just by herself, where you actually get a few glimpses into her real persona: a 15 years old girl, with an incredible brain yes, with all the idiosyncrasies and obsessive compulsions that her Asperger syndrome brings with it, but also a person who feels lonely at times, burdened by the weight of responsibility that’s been put on her: “It’s just too much for me” she cries towards the end talking on the phone with her family. And yet her weaknesses are also her strengths: her OCD/Asperger syndrome, in her own words, helps her to focus and “cut all the noise out”…. and then she concludes with “Sometime I think it would be good if people could have a little bit of Asperger’s… At least when it comes to seeing climate change”.She’s an amazing source of inspiration for many and a source of great annoyance (and even hate) for some.

I just hope some of the latter ones will stumble across this film at some point and hopefully reevaluate their thinking… not just about Greta herself but about the environmental problem we are facing.