Last Paradise (Clive Neeson, 2009): New Zealand

Reviewed by Kazimir Berman. Viewed at Victoria Hall at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

The sense of beauty that Clive Neeson brought to the screen left me in awe. He tells a story of adventure, passion and invention. Rugged wilderness and untouched landscapes are revealed through Neeson’s critically acclaimed photography and cinematography. You can tell that Clive strives to be great at his craft, many times sacrificing his safety to get “the shot”.

The goal of the film is to bring awareness and insight to the world that the worlds great playgrounds are under the threats of overpopulation, development and ignorance. There is original footage from the 1950’s where Clive and his brothers were born, growing up on Safari in South Eastern Africa. You will see stunning footage of Africa, wild beasts roaming round their campsite and rare shots of Mount Kilamanjaro when it still was full of snow.

Some of the Camera work in Last Paradise is at the cutting edge of action sports photography, such as the beginning of the film when a surfer surfs hollow waves with a camera mounted to his head so that the audience may experience the sensation of fling through the tube of a ten foot wave!

Clive and his friends didn’t grow up with any technology, sans television they had to find new creative waves to have fun. He and his friends which includes AJ Hackett, pioneer and adventure entrepreneur, built fast carts to luge down mountains, sped up river in jet boats, bungee jumped off of very tall buildings. Starting off small they eventually began to be on the forefront of adventure and finding things which are purely for fun and thrills.

Last Paradise is a must see for the outdoor enthusiast, and especially for those who question where we will end up in terms of how and where we will next harvest energy for our planet- as Clive is also a physicist in favor of using Fusion energy for the future.