GasLand

Reviewed by Marc Glassman

Gasland
Feature documentary directed by Josh Fox
With: Dr. Theo Colborn, Wilma Subra, Congressman Maurice Hinchley, Lisa Bracken, John Fenton & Residents from Dimock, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas; Booneville, Arizona and more

Hard hitting and immaculately researched, Gasland is a road film with a difference. Filmmaker Josh Fox traverses the terrain of the American North-west and South before returning to his native East in a quest that isn’t about personal romance. (Fox does love his country but who among his compatriots doesn’t agree?)

Fox’s story is that of the impassioned truth-seeker, looking to right wrongs in his country. When he’s offered $100,000 for the right to drill for natural gas on his land in a beautiful area of upstate New York near the Pennsylvania border, Fox turns down the offer. Instead, he embarks on a journey to find out what the frack is going on.

Of course, fracking—hydraulic drilling—is what’s happening. As America and the rest of the Western World desperately looks for more sources of fuel, natural gas looms as an option. Halliburton, the enormous global conglomerate has perfected the technique, which unearths huge deposits of gas beneath the surface in much of the United States.

The only trouble is “fracking” is dangerous for the environment. Fox takes the viewer on a journey through 34 states—way too many, with way too many testimonials---to point out that something is rotten in the States. You know something is wrong when the gas-laden water pouring out of a faucet can be lit on fire. In a doc like this, a couple of flames in a kitchen can be more affecting than a huge CGI effect in Inception.

Horrified by demos of flaming water, Fox finds out that fracking is contaminating the environment, causing severe health issues among innocent citizens. The nation’s water supply is being placed at risk in order to access gas, or so Fox alleges. He has some distinguished Americans voicing their concerns; among them are Dr. Theo Colborn, a respected environmentalist and Wilma Subra, a MacArthur Award “genius” in natural science.

Gasland, which garnered a special award at Sundance in January, builds up to a big confrontation scene between legislators and Halliburton apologists. But in the end nothing has been resolved. The fractured world we live in, filled with environmental disasters dictated by the rampant concerns of a global capitalist economy continues apace.

And the natural world suffers. Ain’t that the fracking truth?

Gasland will be on screens in Toronto this week, on TV this fall and on DVD in the winter. It’s not much fun to watch but it covers an important issue—and is a worthy entry into the growing genre of eco/enviro docs.