How often does a film, no matter how important, affect the result of elections? “Home,” the stirring documentary made on the environmental issues regarding our planet by famed photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has done just that. In last Sunday’s European parliamentary elections, the ecologist movement has made incredible strides, credit tens of millions of viewers in a single day. Arthus-Bertrand, already more than well-known with his beautiful photographs of the world as seen from above basks in the media furor he has unleashed.A tall, handsome man with snow-white hair, he grins when asked about the timing of the film’s release.

“June 5th was designated as Environment Day last year,” he says, “long before June 7th was set for European elections. That ‘Home’ has had enough impact to influence election results is very rewarding.”

The film, heart-wrenching as it enumerates the terrible toll that demographic increase and reckless exploitation of resources has taken over the last fifty years on our beautiful planet, ends on a elegiac message of hope about what we can still do to save it. Last Friday, there were free screenings in theaters around the world, in schools and parks and government buildings, on the main television channels of innumerable countries, and in its entirety on Youtube. The DVD will sell for 3 euros, 1 going to environmental causes. Kudos to Arthus-Bertrand for a superb film of paramount significance.