It is hard to wrap your head around the fact that for 95% of human history, the fastest a person could travel was the speed of a horse. Or their own two feet. We spent millennia stuck in the dirt. Then, in what feels like a blink of a geological eye, we figured out how to hurl three hundred people across the Atlantic while they sip ginger ale and watch rom-coms. This is basically the core obsession of the Living in the Age of Airplanes movie, a 2015 documentary that somehow feels more relevant now than it did when it first hit IMAX screens.
Directed by Brian J. Terwilliger and narrated by Harrison Ford—who, let’s be honest, is the only person allowed to talk about planes with that kind of gravelly authority—the film isn’t just a "plane movie." It is a look at how geography has been defeated. It’s about the fact that your local grocery store has roses from Kenya and blueberries from Peru because of a supply chain that lives in the sky.
Honestly, we’ve become spoiled. We complain about a twenty-minute tarmac delay while sitting in a pressurized metal tube flying at 500 miles per hour. We forget that a couple of centuries ago, that same journey would have taken months and probably involved scurvy.
The Perspective Shift of Living in the Age of Airplanes Movie
The film doesn't lead with engines or technical specs. It leads with the planet. Terwilliger took his crew to 18 countries across all seven continents to capture the sheer scale of global connectivity. There’s this one sequence filmed at the South Pole—the first time a 4K camera was used there for a project like this—that really hammers home how air travel has turned the most remote places on Earth into reachable destinations.
Most people go into the Living in the Age of Airplanes movie expecting a history lesson on the Wright brothers. While Kitty Hawk gets its nod, the film is much more interested in the result of that flight. It’s about the 100,000 flights that take off every single day.
Think about that number. 100,000.
Every 24 hours, the equivalent of the population of a small city is suspended in the air. The movie uses some pretty incredible time-lapse photography to show the flow of air traffic over the Atlantic. It looks like a pulsing nervous system. If those planes stopped, the modern world would basically have a heart attack.
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Why Harrison Ford Was the Right Choice
You can tell Harrison Ford actually cares about the subject. He’s a well-known pilot in real life—sometimes for better or worse, given his a few of his headline-making landings—but his passion for aviation is genuine. His narration doesn't sound like a guy reading a script in a booth; it sounds like a guy who understands the visceral magic of breaking gravity.
He brings a weight to the script that helps bridge the gap between "cool shots of planes" and "profound sociological shift." When he talks about how "the airplane has changed the world more than any other invention in history," you kind of believe him. Even if the internet might have something to say about that, the airplane is what actually moves the physical atoms that the internet just talks about.
Seeing the Unseen Supply Chain
One of the most eye-opening parts of the Living in the Age of Airplanes movie is the segment on the flower industry. It’s a bit of a cliché to talk about "globalization," but seeing the journey of a flower from a field in Kenya to a vase in London in less than 24 hours is staggering.
- Flowers are picked at dawn.
- They are trucked to an airport in Nairobi.
- They fly through the night.
- They are auctioned in the Netherlands or sold in New York by the next morning.
This isn't just about luxury. It’s about the fact that we have decoupled ourselves from the seasons. We live in a permanent summer because of cargo holds. The movie forces you to look at the "belly cargo" of passenger planes. Next time you're sitting in 14B, remember there might be two tons of fresh salmon or iPhone components sitting right underneath your feet.
The Cinematography of 4K and Beyond
Terwilliger is a perfectionist. If you’ve seen his previous work, One Six Right, you know he has a thing for making aluminum look like fine art. In Living in the Age of Airplanes, he uses the IMAX format to its full potential. The aerial shots of the Maldives or the massive grain fields of the American Midwest aren't just pretty; they illustrate how different parts of the world look from the vantage point only a pilot sees.
The film took six years to produce. That’s a long time for a 47-minute documentary. But you see that time on the screen. The lighting is always perfect. The "magic hour" shots aren't rushed. It’s a love letter to the sky.
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Dealing with the Modern "Cynicism" of Flight
Let's be real: flying sucks sometimes.
TSA lines are long. Seats are getting smaller. The person in 12C is eating a tuna sandwich. It is very easy to hate the experience of being "in the age of airplanes."
However, the movie acts as a powerful antidote to that cynicism. It asks us to remember that for almost all of human existence, the idea of seeing the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower in the same week was literally impossible. It didn't matter how much money you had; the physics of the world wouldn't allow it.
Now, a middle-class family can save up and traverse the globe in a day. We’ve democratized the world. The film argues that this has led to a more empathetic planet. It’s harder to hate a place once you’ve actually walked its streets and smelled its air. Air travel has made the "other" much less mysterious.
Missing Pieces?
If there’s a critique of the Living in the Age of Airplanes movie, it’s that it stays very positive. It doesn't spend a lot of time on the carbon footprint of aviation or the environmental cost of flying those Kenyan roses across the equator.
In 2026, we are much more aware of "flight shame" and the push for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). If the movie were made today, it would probably need a whole chapter on electric planes and hydrogen power. But as a historical and sociological snapshot, its core message—that flight changed our DNA as a species—remains true.
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Where to Watch and How to Experience It
If you want to watch it, try to find the 4K Ultra HD version. Seeing this on a phone is a crime against the cinematography. It’s available on most major VOD platforms like Amazon and Apple TV.
Interestingly, many people first encounter this film in museum theaters. Places like the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum often run it because it fits perfectly with their mission. It’s an educational tool that doesn't feel like school.
Practical Takeaways for Your Next Trip
Watching this film actually changes how you travel. It makes you a less grumpy passenger. Here’s how to apply that "Age of Airplanes" mindset next time you head to the airport:
- Look out the window. Seriously. Stop scrolling on your phone for ten minutes during takeoff. Look at the transition from the city grid to the natural landscape. It’s a perspective our ancestors would have died for.
- Track your cargo. Download an app like FlightRadar24. Look at the sheer density of planes above you. It helps you realize you’re part of a massive, synchronized global dance.
- Appreciate the logistics. When you eat an orange in January in Chicago, think about the wing surface area required to get it there. It makes the food taste a little bit more like a miracle.
- Visit an aviation museum. If the movie sparks an interest, go see the actual machines. The Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia or the Museum of Flight in Seattle are world-class spots to see the evolution from wood and fabric to titanium.
The Living in the Age of Airplanes movie reminds us that we are living in a temporary, beautiful anomaly of history where the world is small enough to fit in the palm of our hand. We shouldn't take that for granted. Next time you're stuck in a middle seat, just remember: you're doing something that was considered divine intervention only a century ago.
Safe travels.