Blue Gold – World Water Wars (2008/Purple Turtle DVD/PBS)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Documentary: B
Water
seems plentiful, especially with 2/3rds of the earth covered with it. However, pollution and other problems have denatured
much of it and much of it is not being cleaned or being allowed to enter the
ecosystem in a healthy way that has made clean drinking water a major
problem. Now, it is getting worse and in
Sam Bozzo’s new documentary Blue Gold –
World Water Wars (2008) it seems some governments and corporations are
trying to take advantage of the situation in grim ways.
To deny
people water or make them go so into debt that they are stuck buying or
literally dying is the latest man-made catastrophe some powerful forces
apparently want to try out in the name of big profits and just having the pure
power over other people. Though I did
not agree with every point of this very intriguing 90-minutes-long program, I
thought it made very valid points about water becoming the next oil and why
that needs to be stopped. If the
behavior over not passing out water during the Hurricane Katrina fiasco was any
sign, things could get very ugly.
Of
course, it also discusses how it feels bottled water is a rip off versus the
cost to get it out of a sink, yet it never covers the other issue (without
helping the mass privatization that could cause this nightmare) that the pipes
the water are coming through are rotting, can have lead content and the
infrastructure (as shown in cases where privatized systems were pumping out
infected water) becomes less efficient when not upgraded, but the money to do
that is also a massive undertaking. The
issues are very complex, but withholding water from anyone is bad. From many, we are looking at civil wars and worse. Malcolm McDowell very effectively narrates
and the interviews are very good.
The letterboxed
1.78 X 1 image is a bit weak and has aliasing errors throughout, but is still
consistent and watchable. I wish this
were anamorphic and for most of the footage being newly shot, should look
better on Blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo has no major surrounds, but is a clear new recording and fares better
than the image. Extras include a
trailer, filmmaker interview and 17.5 minutes of valuable deleted scenes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
