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Reviews
Magical Land of Oz (2019)
Propaganda maybe?
The cinematography is good, and there's no shortness of adorable, fascinating creatures. There is an odd lack of self-awareness, however, that may leave you thinking that something is a bit off.
This doco seems to downplay the impact of human development to the point of actually saying that the animals have used their radically transformed environments to their advantage. In one part, the doco focuses on a group of dingos living by a mine in the desert. No discussion of how this has negatively impacted the environment, and rather, were "living the best lives possible". Aww, isn't that sweet - strip mining has actually made it better than ever for wildlife.
Where the series does make some claim to what can be done, it calls for an ambiguous "national plan". We're then told of a magnificent project on Phillip Island where someone (the doco is unclear who or how) has taken the initiative to reclaim the island for the penguins. This is a success story, apparently, because now tourists pay to go to the island.
This doco filmed strip mines and said nothing about the criminal mining industry? It filmed koalas and said nothing of the criminal Berejiklian government's murderous cuts to fire reduction programs? And it's one solution is to marketise the problem? Riiiiight.
Sounds suspiciously like more capitalist propaganda where the solution is always mores capitalism.