Beyond Pollution

Watch This Film!
There are certain documentaries that take your breath away - some because of the beauty of the natural phenomena they share, others because of the horror of war as depicted in photographs and videos with running commentary from the fields where war is happening - both abroad and at home, as in watching the films of 9/11 or the Boston Marathon explosions. A well-made documentary should jolt us to action: BEYOND POLLUTION does just that.

This masterfully constructed and documented film by Barker White places the heinous action of BP oil company in our faces. It is not pretty nor is it sensationalized. This is excellent reportage of the tragedy of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill three years ago in April of 2010. The images of the explosion of the oil rig are not unlike the films we have seen of the atomic bomb explosions and the aftermath of that disaster is almost equal - and continues to decimate the peoples in the states touching the Gulf of Mexico.

But very, very...

Depressing But Worth Watching
News Junkies will learn little new here, but viewing weeks and months of blaring headlines in a compressed format adds to the jolting impact of this tragedy. The film traces the BP disaster from the initial explosion to the current state of the Gulf with commentary by national politicians, local politicians, local affected citizens, scientists, and news reporters. The viewer is even taken back to the days of Reagan, the Bushes, and the Exxon Valdez to see how a lax system evolved to allow such an event to happen.

Mercifully there are few scenes of dead or dying oil soaked animals, scenes that are too painful to watch. The high point of the film for me is the segment about following the money. At this juncture it all comes together, and the involvement of one major player, a prominent friend and contributor of the current White House, who has much to gain by suppressing facts about the real impact of the massive oil spill is quite the revelation.

If you can...

Deregulation Kills The Ecosystem
Probably one of the most comprehensive documentaries on American oil disasters, "Beyond Pollution" covers all the bases. Beginning with the Exxon Valdez debacle, the director and his team recount how since that disaster, the entire areas ecological system has collapsed. The human toll is great as well with serious illness and death accounted for by the clean-up crew.

When the focus is on the BP spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the truth comes out. Back in the Reagan and Bush years, regulations on the oil industry were so relaxed that hundreds and hundreds of spills occurred over the years. Nearly every single year, there was a major spill somewhere. These are events that most Americans don't know about. Not to lay blame on one side of the political aisle, the commentary shows that even in the Obama administration, not enough was done soon enough or fast enough.

Culminating dozens and dozens of television interviews and news reports, "Beyond Pollution" gives...

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