Wanting to drill for gas into a valuable piece of nature, a firm has helped to introduce a bill to that effect. The representative of a NGO devoted to bird protection travels to Washington in hopes of defeating the proposal. Along the way she meets with two men : one of them a lobbyist (who is indeed a lobbyist) and the other one a retired admiral (who is not actually a retired admiral)...
A mix of political satire and rom-com, "Something for the birds" tells the tale of a well-meaning activist straying into the wild and not entirely wonderful world of Washington politics. The movie calls attention to the fact that the ebb and flow of legislation owes a great deal to lobbying, both overt and covert. What matters most is skillful influence brought to bear on certain key politicians - and since the amount of influence exerted is directly proportional to the amount of money spent, this means that the players with the biggest checkbooks have the greatest advantage. All of which translates as bad news for the protection of the environment, given that condors, sparrows and swans tend to be short on cash, just like the humans who defend them.
Sadly, things have only deteriorated since the 1950's. Viewers interested in topics like lobbying, corporate power, propaganda, astroturfing, greenwashing etcetera can do worse than read the books by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, such as the memorably named "Toxic sludge is good for you".
If you listen to the movie closely, you'll hear a politician declare that he does not deem condors worthy of protection because he thinks they're gross, ugly and useless. It's surprising how often this inane argument crops up, even anno 2024. The world seems to overflow with people who classify animals as either "cute" or "non-cute", with the non-cute having to put up with everything from inconvenience to extinction. Of course all of the cute animals would disappear too once their sources of food, shelter, control or support were gone, but somehow this idea doesn't register. One struggles to picture the quality of the education provided in certain schools.
But back to "Something for the birds", which is a pleasantly watchable comedy with some clever finds. (How to gatecrash the finest parties held in Washington ? Watch the movie and find out !) Our professional lobbyist is too nice - I strongly suspect that the majority of them are amoral mercenaries - and the ending is too optimistic, but hey, that's what you get with comedies...
A mix of political satire and rom-com, "Something for the birds" tells the tale of a well-meaning activist straying into the wild and not entirely wonderful world of Washington politics. The movie calls attention to the fact that the ebb and flow of legislation owes a great deal to lobbying, both overt and covert. What matters most is skillful influence brought to bear on certain key politicians - and since the amount of influence exerted is directly proportional to the amount of money spent, this means that the players with the biggest checkbooks have the greatest advantage. All of which translates as bad news for the protection of the environment, given that condors, sparrows and swans tend to be short on cash, just like the humans who defend them.
Sadly, things have only deteriorated since the 1950's. Viewers interested in topics like lobbying, corporate power, propaganda, astroturfing, greenwashing etcetera can do worse than read the books by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, such as the memorably named "Toxic sludge is good for you".
If you listen to the movie closely, you'll hear a politician declare that he does not deem condors worthy of protection because he thinks they're gross, ugly and useless. It's surprising how often this inane argument crops up, even anno 2024. The world seems to overflow with people who classify animals as either "cute" or "non-cute", with the non-cute having to put up with everything from inconvenience to extinction. Of course all of the cute animals would disappear too once their sources of food, shelter, control or support were gone, but somehow this idea doesn't register. One struggles to picture the quality of the education provided in certain schools.
But back to "Something for the birds", which is a pleasantly watchable comedy with some clever finds. (How to gatecrash the finest parties held in Washington ? Watch the movie and find out !) Our professional lobbyist is too nice - I strongly suspect that the majority of them are amoral mercenaries - and the ending is too optimistic, but hey, that's what you get with comedies...