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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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Beyond Pollution: A Deeper Look at the BP Gulf Oil Disaster
With "Beyond Pollution" first time feature film director Barker White walks us through the Deep Water Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010. White tells the stories of the emergence of Big Oil's domination of American public policy, BPs long prior history of devastating accidents, the spill itself, and the aftermath.
One take-away is whatever your political affiliation, Democrat or Republican, you'll find plenty of bad guys in your dear Party – guys who set the stage for the disaster, hampered the response, greatly exacerbated the disaster's destruction by delayed response and the use of dispersants, and guys who continue to be part of the problem of fossil-fuel based environmental destruction.
I noted, however, that many of the interviewees who were Republican – indeed, even the film's narrator, Dean Cain. A glimmer of hope from a Party known for the horrifying slogan, "Drill, Baby, Drill."
The film makes it clear. The Gulf is not recovered, and it is uncertain if and when it will recover. The massive number of oil rigs there mitigate against any hope or wish for recovery – as does the continued dominance of Big Oil in United States' public policy. Even after the unprecedented damage caused by 2012's hurricane Sandy as well as the decades-long, non-stop avalanche of evidence regarding the direct relationship between fossil fuel burning and global warming, as of this writing the Keystone Pipeline proposal remains an open question.
Although "Beyond Pollution" is made by a first-time director, White's film is as polished and powerful as one directed by a seasoned filmmaker.