Review of The Huge Wreck – A sharp-eyed send-up of Kubrick’s strangeness in Dubai during Cop28 | film

FFilmmaker and climate activist Josh Appignanesi brings us an interesting prospectus from the front lines of modernity and postmodernism, from the 21st century capital itself: Dubai – a city where “oil money turns into concrete, glass and false optimism.” It seems to be the place on everyone’s lips, the metropolis at the center of contemporary conversation, endlessly and casually cited as an example of ruthless capitalism and reactionary politics, a city that transcends cynicism or principled objection. However, until now, I don’t think I’ve seen a film that attempts to show what this extraordinary place actually looks like, through mysterious, dreamy, psychedelic, surreal images of a cityscape in the desert.

The colossal wreck, with its reference to Chile made clear at the end, is Appignanesi’s wryly thoughtful account of his visit to Dubai in 2023, to give a screening of his previous film My Extinction at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Cop28, which was organised, with astonishing impudence, by a huge oil-producing nation whose politicians thought nothing of making secret oil deals at the conference itself. The film is exquisitely written and charmingly scored by composer Vic Sharma, and narrated off-camera by Appignanesi – or rather, through an AI voice clone. (I thought Appignanesi was talking figuratively about this fabrication of his talking self, but no, it’s a literal artificial intelligence.) Thus his physical presence, a generally pleasantly disheveled one, is largely absent, adding to the film’s sense of seriousness.

There had been catastrophic flood disasters in Dubai before and after the conference, but while Appignanesi was there everything was going awry, an uncanny valley of consumerist tranquility in excess of prosperity. Appignanesi is too reserved and gentlemanly to say so, but Dubai and its exhibition city are simply the gold of filmmaking: everywhere you point your camera – or iPhone – offers a stunning spectacle. It’s like a duty-free shop in a city-sized airport, crossed with a Kubrickian spaceship. Appignanesi presents My Extinction and bravely participates in a question-and-answer session afterwards in front of a modest audience. (He wryly registers his dismay at the overwhelming public and industry support for Josh Tickle, another filmmaker there.) We are also shown a native speaker from Brazil’s Guaraní people, Valdelis Veron, speaking passionately about the annihilation of her people, one moment of unapologetic emotion in the documentary.

The film allows us to ponder the only silly topic: what on earth is everyone doing here? Activists outnumber bankers and fossil fuel funds who are here to hide their reason for existence in plain sight. The main idea is that floating sensation in outer space of something very strange indeed: a message from the future. We see the view of Dubai and its towers (Appignanesi calls it a “giant of insignificance”) from the top of the world’s tallest building to the music of a beautiful, haunting whale song. Could something positive emerge, almost by chance, from this circus? Or is more than half of humanity in love with extinction, addicted to living and using everything? (I personally don’t think that’s the case.) But this is Appignanesi’s best documentary to date.