Review of Living in the Age of Airplanes (2015) by Greg T — 20 Nov 2018

A brilliant short feature. It's not a film about airplanes, or pilots, or how to fly, or great aviation triumphs or terrible flying tragedies.

Broken into 5 brief chapters, it's a movie about the amazing time we live in, where aviation has turned the planet into a small country. Where a range of goods that would have been beyond the wildest dreams of the wealthiest King or Sultan of the past, is now quietly shipped to your local mall from around the globe. Where countries geographically and environmentally as far apart as Antarctica and the Maldives can be reached, explored or vacationed at. An age in which the longest journey of our ancestors, the ten thousand year odyssey from Africa to the bottom tip of South America, can now be done in comfort in a day.

Filled from beginning to end with sumptuous imagery and a magnificent musical score (James Horner's last before the airplane accident that killed him), the narration and special effects are kept deliberately low-key to let the real footage speak for itself. I'm a 54 year old man, and I watched it with my 25 year old son. We were both quietly sobbing by the end of the movie -not because it was sad, but at the sheer beauty of cinematography and the power of the final chapter.

This is short film-making the way it's supposed to be done. It is nothing less than a love letter to aviation.