Surviving Progress (2011): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2011, Surviving Progress is a documentary film directed by Mathieu Roy, running about 86 minutes. “Every time history repeats itself, the price goes up.” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

Who’s in it. Surviving Progress stars Stephen Hawking as Himself, David Suzuki as Himself and Jane Goodall as Herself.

How it landed. With an audience score of 7.2/10, Surviving Progress has been warmly received by audiences.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on OVID and rent or buy it from Amazon Video. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Surviving Progress page.

If you liked it. Fans of Surviving Progress tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.