Irena Salina directs this feature-length documentary about the industry and consumption of humankind's most precious resource: water. As African villages survive on potentially toxic water supplies out of sheer necessity, Salina explores how the corporate structure has come to control humanity's water supply, creating a dire situation that experts have come to refer to as the World Water Crisis. With issues of pollution, politics, and human rights all coming to a head with the issue, Salina
points the finger at the specific corporate and governmental figures responsible for the crisis, and takes a look at how grassroots organizations work to fight the increasing privatization of water, hoping to end the imbalance in access to the precious resource that has already had mortal consequences for so many. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi
All of Salina's interviews and data tell a graphic story about corporate water piracy, the complicity of governments, the burden put on the poor and the scam of bottled water. But she can't quite jam it all in and still have a film that, well, flows.
Flow makes the case against the privatization of water, which is happening in gazillions of impoverished communities around the world, not to mention North American backyards.
When filmmaker Irena Salina does marshal the facts, Flow is an eye-opening, troubling 90 minutes that makes us think twice about an element we take for granted.
The documentary shows in no uncertain terms that if we continue to abuse our water supply, Earth will become uninhabitable and humankind will become extinct.
The film makes a convincing case for better oversight of public water systems, water conservation, better water treatment systems and better control of industrial pollution which contaminates water supplies.
Although meandering at times, Flow is still a serviceable documentary spouting daunting informational facts and figures about the freshwater supply threats and the perilous consequences that inevitably follow.
The film is filled mostly with talking-head interviews and very one-sided reporting. So it's lucky that these are subjects that are extremely topical right now, and are of interest as a result.
Problems are addressed in a narrative progression that gets more horrendous and builds into utter despair, except for the final few words of activism and optimism.
The overarching theme here is that the Earth's freshwater supply is being contaminated, sucked dry and 'privatized' for the benefit of huge corporations that are establishing themselves as the heirs to the oil cartels.
Flow might be alarmist propaganda, but with an estimated 20 years left before California's water supply is used up, it might be time to respond to the alarm.
Channeling Soylent Green, Flow is fresh when it ties issues of supply, cost, quality, and extraction on 5 continents with the rise of giant water companies.
Your tap water might be making you sick. But your bottled water might be making you sicker, while also enabling the environmental rape of the American heartland and unconscionable extortion in the Third World.
The doomsday tone of the movie quickly becomes wearying, and after a certain point the information is simply repetitive, and thus loses much of its impact.
Yep, an eye-opening documentary. I knew a lot of what they showed, but so much more is highlighted. This is another of those films that should be required viewing. As a political documentary, this is spot-on. See it.As a documentary, it is a little scattered and probably could have dwelled on some points for longer. It
might have given a more emotional involvement if it did sit on things for longer. Still, not too much to complain about.
August 18, 2010
Lee B
rena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis.Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics,
pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question 'CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?'Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround.
No quotes approved yet for Flow: For Love of Water. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Flow: For Love of Water'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
