The Uncertainty Has Settled (2017)

After eight years of travelling through conflict and poverty zones, Marijn Poels – a progressive filmmaker – decided to take some time off. In the Austrian mountains no less. It confronts him unexpectedly with the roots of agriculture and its modern day perspective. Globalisation and climate politics are causing radical changes such as farmers becoming energy suppliers. But the green ideology raises questions. The scientific topic of climate change has now become incontrovertibly a matter of world politics. Poels faces a personal conflict. Are we doing the right thing?

The Uncertainty Has Settled is the first film within a planned trilogy by Marijn Poels. “What is so beautiful and compelling in this documentary is the ignorance of the maker”, Jan Jakobs wrote in his review. “Marijn stumbles from one surprise to another. You can see his disbelief and amazement and sometimes even read the despair on his face. The beautiful images and transitions, along with the necessary rest points, provide the viewer with the necessary breaks but at the same time evoke a desire for more information. The way in which the issue is addressed, the words used to interpret the information, make the film extremely suitable for all and sundry. Even for those who thought there was only one opinion on the subject of climate change and CO2. There are also the conversations with ordinary people, who are victims of the remote and detached politics in Europe, which add so much more to this documentary than just a collection of facts to show that you are in the right. The human factor is ever present; the painful exposure of failed politics aimed at reducing human CO2, the devastating consequences for the landscape and nature, the income of entire populations that disappears and farmers who are busy producing energy instead of food. It eats away at the sense of justice of a man such as Marijn Poels”.