H2Oil (2009)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The Plot.Moving between a local microcosm and the global oil crisis, H2Oil weaves together a collection of compelling stories of people who are at the front lines of the biggest industrial project in human history.Canada's tar sands. H2Oil is a feature-length documentary that traces the wavering balance between the urgent need to protect and preserve fresh water resources and the mad clamoring to fill the global demand for oil. It is a film that asks: what is more important, water or oil? Will the quest for profit overshadow efforts to protect public health and the environment in Canada's richest province? Oh Boy.Yet another absurdly biased piece of propaganda brought to you by big money activist groups.The movie tries to say you cant fight oil money, but the truth is that environmental orgs spend way more billions that oil to kill our energy.This movie is an abomination and one big fat lie.

This documentary is not an unbiased one, but it's a documentation of a serious environmental as well as health crime against people living in Alberta, Canada, where they are entwining crude oil from oil sand. This is dud to wast resources of this dirty oil in this Canadian region.Oils and and sin crude is a very polluting both due to carbon emissions as well as the cleansing process to wash the oil out of the muddy sand. There is to be used 4 liters if fresh water to wash out 1 liter of oil.The film asks the question if oil is more important than water. Is the government more keen on getting crude oil than preserving the water resources?We meet a lot of seriously concerned people in the communities, watching the glaciers melting away, and the pollution which is growing. Canada hasn't been bald to meet their own goals in reducing carbon emission for the last 15 years.This film is tragic to watch, and it makes me mad that even the Norwegian Statoil company is one of the investors in this dirty business.

This is a very depressing film. You see the gargantuan wealth and machinery behind the Alberta Tar Sands project. It is the biggest project of any kind on earth. You see the glitzy propaganda coming from big oil and the government of Alberta and the Harper government. You discover even the College of Physicians and Surgeons trying to shut down those who discovered water contaminated by the tar sands projects. You see the Ministry of the Environment shilling for big oil. There are a number of scenes of people trying to talk to government representatives and being given the run-around.The message seems to be "You can't fight big oil. They have too much money. They have no conscience. They have bought everyone". You see little bands of natives vainly trying to get their water supplies cleaned up, while they drop like flies from cancer. You learn about how Canada has voluntarily surrendered its sovereignty to the USA in matters of energy and water, and apparently getting nothing in return.But this is all so insane. Extracting each barrel emits three times the greenhouse gases of conventional crude. It is suicidal to continue pumping greenhouses gases that way, but Harper does not care. He is so excited by the money.Some of the propaganda is amusing. One representative claims that stripping the forest is an "improvement". He further claims that stripping all the soil hundreds of meters down is also an "improvement", because the oil is removed, and someday the soil might be put back and trees replanted.

While this 2009 documentary earns high marks for superb editing, catchy title, likable people and great narration, it ultimately fails overall because of a basic fatal flaw suffered by the majority of this sub-genre of environmentalist vs. capitalist exposure docudrama. By presenting only one side of the story, and through editing ensuring that any comments, facts or rebuttal from the other side only reinforce the negative message about their alleged "dastardly deeds" the producers are completely underestimating the intelligence of the audience. The thinking person is left wondering, "What is the other side of the story, and why was it not represented?" If the claims made in the documentary can be supported and hold up to scrutiny and rebuttal it makes the original message stronger. Conversely, if the scrutiny and rebuttal is not presented the original message is weakened. The film, starring Alan Adam, Cathy Gratz and Aaron Mathers among others, is centered on the Athabasca area surrounding the Alberta Oil sands, and the effects on the environment, particularly relating to water, of the bitumen mining and upgrading operations in the area. To personalize the issues, the majority of the film focuses on the residents of Fort Chipewyan, a community downstream of the oil sands on the Athabasca river and the proprietors of a family run Spring Water business. Director Shannon Walsh does present some compelling facts and figures throughout the film, including statistics indicating abnormally high incidents of cancer among the residents of Fort Chipewyan but the message is lost in the rhetoric claiming non responsiveness from government and industry. The other side of the story, that in fact there is tremendous effort, in terms of financial and human capital by both government and industry to continually improve environmental impact of the oil sands operations and there have been significant improvements over the last decade, is not mentioned. Is governmental and industry doing enough? Unfortunately, this important question is never posed by this film; instead the implication is nothing is being done. The fatal flaw - as this implication is not true, what might be compelling arguments at the center of this films message, are lost.My advice for future filmmakers of this genre – A balanced presentation of the issues will allow the audience to decide for themselves the truth and what the call for action should be. Isn't that the goal?