Documentary Wednesday: "Gasland"

      Among the many politically-centered environmental documentaries I've encountered this year, Gasland, a winner at Sundance and an independent film with an interesting trailer I posted here on BoomMic months ago, was one that intrigued me.  It seemed almost exactly like the Erin Brokovich story, only now she has a gas mask and a banjo, and travels around the middle and eastern United States putting people's flammable water into jugs and testing them.  This film is actually MUCH more disturbing than that.

    Filmmaker Joshua Fox tells the story of how he awoke one day on his beautiful 40-acre property in Pennsylvania to a lease offer by a natural gas energy company, offering to pay handsomely per acre if Fox would allow drilling and hydraulic fracturing to take place on his property.  The hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", was stated by the energy company to be completely harmless to the water, soil, and general environment surrounding it.  Fox decided to do some investigating before he signed any agreement.  Nearly a month later, after traveling around the country to dozens of homes and properties, and witnessing the damage that fracking had done to both the places and people, he had incriminating footage, countless amazing interviews, and one hell of a story on his hands.  

    Fox's quiet, meek narration throughout the film may seem odd at first, but the crazy shit in this film honestly speaks for itself.  The narration is just to keep you calm, honestly.  Fox interviews dozens of home owners whose water was contaminated with fracking materials and chemicals, making the water toxic, and most of the time, completely flammable.  The consequences of the poisonous water were insidious; many property owners developed severe health problems, including brain tumors, migraines, and cancer.  The areas visited are almost exclusively rural, with low to middle class families raising animals and children, and trying to live a quarter of a mile away from leaking gas tanks that pollute their air and cause their pets and horses to lose hair, have mange, and die.   

     The scientific and concise explanation of the fracking process does not take away from these jaw-dropping tragedies.  Fox juxtaposes these images of misery and disregard for environment against those working for a solution in Washington, as well as energy CEOs working for profits.  

     This documentary, in the end, only went on a search for answers, and it did it in a genuine way.  This sincerity is sometimes lost in the documentary genre; once you watch enough documentaries, there are tell-tale signs if a director, writer, or producer set out only to confirm their already settled beliefs, or if they were only searching for truth.  Fox was indeed in search of the truth; his home was on the line.  Unfortunately, truth is what he got.  If you are ever in the mood to get angry or be in utter disbelief at human behavior, watch this film.  It is important.  It is well-made.  And it will never make you take your faucet water for granted again.  

(Img sources=news.fowl.org/media.jinni.com)