'GASLAND': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
One of the five films nominated for best documentary at the upcoming Academy Awards, this film focuses on homes effected by natural gas drilling around the United States. After director Josh Fox received a letter from a major energy company offering a large amount of money ($100,000) to lease his land, in order to drill for gas on it, Fox decided to investigate the matter and began filming a documentary about it. He serves as director, writer, narrator and cinematographer on the film. It's only his second movie (following another documentary from 2008 titled 'MEMORIAL DAY') and it's garnered outstanding critical appraise and awards kudos.
The film focuses on a hydraulic drilling method recently developed to dig up gas from the ground called "fracking". The film primarily focuses on how this process effects the water around it and people, land and animals exposed to it. Fox travels around the country to places like Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, West Virginia, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Texas. He meets people at their homes and interviews them on how their lives have been effected by the drilling. Many have health problems, their animals are sick and in one of the most notorious scenes from the movie a man is able to light his water on fire directly from the faucet using a cigarette lighter.
The film is shocking and disturbing but it also contains some beautiful cinematography of nature at it's best in contrast. I've read several rebuttals to claims the film makes but I've also read rebuttals to those rebuttals and it kind of just comes down to who seems like a more trustworthy source of information: big business looking only out for their own best interests or common home owners and other citizens looking out for the environment and people's safety. The film is for the most part very informative and interesting. It gets a little slow paced at times and the way the information is delivered isn't usually in the most entertaining or engaging way possible but it is educational none the less. Fox is an admirable filmmaker and has some charisma but he's got a lot to learn about making an entertaining and engrossing film. Even so the movie gets it's message across and it's an important one.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYO6EVQKyVs
One of the five films nominated for best documentary at the upcoming Academy Awards, this film focuses on homes effected by natural gas drilling around the United States. After director Josh Fox received a letter from a major energy company offering a large amount of money ($100,000) to lease his land, in order to drill for gas on it, Fox decided to investigate the matter and began filming a documentary about it. He serves as director, writer, narrator and cinematographer on the film. It's only his second movie (following another documentary from 2008 titled 'MEMORIAL DAY') and it's garnered outstanding critical appraise and awards kudos.
The film focuses on a hydraulic drilling method recently developed to dig up gas from the ground called "fracking". The film primarily focuses on how this process effects the water around it and people, land and animals exposed to it. Fox travels around the country to places like Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, West Virginia, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Texas. He meets people at their homes and interviews them on how their lives have been effected by the drilling. Many have health problems, their animals are sick and in one of the most notorious scenes from the movie a man is able to light his water on fire directly from the faucet using a cigarette lighter.
The film is shocking and disturbing but it also contains some beautiful cinematography of nature at it's best in contrast. I've read several rebuttals to claims the film makes but I've also read rebuttals to those rebuttals and it kind of just comes down to who seems like a more trustworthy source of information: big business looking only out for their own best interests or common home owners and other citizens looking out for the environment and people's safety. The film is for the most part very informative and interesting. It gets a little slow paced at times and the way the information is delivered isn't usually in the most entertaining or engaging way possible but it is educational none the less. Fox is an admirable filmmaker and has some charisma but he's got a lot to learn about making an entertaining and engrossing film. Even so the movie gets it's message across and it's an important one.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYO6EVQKyVs