New Documentary Reviews
Flow: For Love of Water (2008)
Directed by Irena Salina
This documentary, five years in the making, covers how the world's water resources have become privatised and how we are running out of fresh water. The first part of the film looks at poisonous modern chemicals affecting our water supply, causing illnesses and changing the sex of mammals and fish.
The water systems of countries like Bolivia are handed over to multinational water companies like Thames Water and Suez, leaving many native people without water. In South Africa, the poor cannot afford to pay for clean water so they use dirty water from the river.
The film later argues very convincingly that the water supplies are all in the control of these companies who are only interested in power and profit.
There is a discussion about dams and how they not only displace native populations in India and China but also create methane gas which contributes to global warming.
There is an examination of a community in India who successfully started their own water harvesting project, contrasted with a legal battle in Michigan that began when Nestle started a water-bottling plant, draining a small town's energy reserves and giving nothing back to the community.
This is a brilliant film, highlighting a crucial energy issue alongside that of oil and charting the growing collective resistance to the privatisation of water.
"A Crude Awakening" (2006)
Directed by Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormick
Another documentary looking at oil and how production has peaked and is now declining. There is a look at the history of oil with the usual historical montages of the golden era of discovery contrasted with shots of now-defunct oil fields.
There is a look at how oil has motivated war and will continue to do so. The DVD features extensive interviews with experts including Colin Campbell and the late Matthew Simmons plus there is a bonus chapter with deleted scenes not included in the film.
The tone is calm and direct, rather like a lecture. It is neither patronising nor overly gloomy but simply telling it as it is and is all the more chilling for it. The oil crash is coming and we had better get ready.
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)
Written and directed by Peter Joseph
Right from the get-go this is a comprehensive work of art, arguing with profound depth and logic for a change in our environment and our behaviour to ensure a transition from our current social and economic paradigm to one that is more sustainable.
The film opens with an astonishing pre-credits sequence that sees a voice-over about a game of Monopoly underline the competitiveness and emptiness that is at the core of our society. There is then a discussion of human nature that debunks the notion that our behaviour is purely 'genetic' and is in fact informed by our environment and life experiences, as well as the culture we find ourselves in. I enjoyed this part as it was an eye-opener for me on how we really function as humans.
Then follows a breakdown of our current economic system, along with a bleak outlook for our society is proceeding towards civil unrest and possibly revolution. Most intriguing is the middle section dealing with the establishment of what is called a 'resource-based economy', where society revolves not around money or monetary gain but on the renewable resources available in the environment. I am slightly sceptical about the technology available in his proposed economy based on the resources that are sure to be depleted but it is an interesting vision of the future.
The film ends on a revolutionary note that is hopeful in spite of the bleak imminent prospects for humanity. I would recommend seeing this film online - .
Also check out the website: http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
