Waiting for Something Big, The New York Times, 2010

“2012: Time for Change,” 85 minutes of naïveté with the occasional interesting idea thrown in, gives Daniel Pinchbeck another chance to flog his 2012-theme books (“2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl”) and the notion that a little over a year from now Something Big is going to happen.

Dustin Lindblad

The film, directed by João Amorim, spends much of its first third looking like a cable TV scare-u-mentary on Nostradamus, using images of destructive waves and such to illustrate the prediction — the Mayans foresaw it all — that 2012 will bring cataclysmic change. But Mr. Pinchbeck tries to nurture the notion that this change doesn’t have to be negative; it could instead be a global consciousness-raising that embraces one-with-nature ideas from the counterculture handbook.

Mr. Pinchbeck talks to assorted experts on such things. All of them look well off and self-satisfied. None of them seem to acknowledge that the planet has almost seven billion people on it or have room in their worldview for annoying facts of life like brutal dictators, ethnic hatred, entrenched poverty and plain old greed.

Everything will be fine, this film argues, if we all just chew some hallucinogenic roots, get a worm-filled personal composting box and hike into the rain forest for a “shamanic experience.” The line forms at the border.

2012

Time for Change

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Directed by João Amorim; directors of photography, Mr. Amorim and Felipe Reinheimer; edited by April Merl; art direction by Dustin Lindblad; produced by Mr. Amorim, Giancarlo Canavesio and Sol Tryon; released by Mangusta Productions. At the AMC Loews Village 7, 66 Third Avenue, at 13th Street, East Village. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. This film is not rated.