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Film Perfection

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Water is the new oil, apparently - a vital commodity, in dwindling supply, controlled by corporate business, so tightly that the people of Bolivia were recently threatened with jail for collecting rainwater. Until the government drove out the big bad barons, that is.If you're wanting a pantomime version of our global ecosystem, this is the one, every cliché firmly in place. It starts in the first seconds, with a stock image of parched and cracked soil, a slow dripping-sound, and Malcolm McDowell announcing that "whoever goes without water for a week cries blood." To give him his due, McDowell has matured into quite a good voiceover artist, almost mistakeable for Richard Burton. But this does not make the message any more credible.It is basically that water is a human right, that should be administered by 'the people' or the United Nations, and not the ruthless, corrupt private sector. We are encouraged to feel that water belongs to everyone, rather like the Native Americans who couldn't get their mind round the ownership of land. We hear the startling claim that corporate business is 'not subject to clear-cut performance requirements', which is, of course, the standard weakness of the public sector and the charities, providing all manner of temptations when money is left lying around.If, like myself, you are liable to develop hydrology fatigue, you can assess the main arguments quite effectively by just sizing-up the human types you're looking at, like bored constituents at an election rally. Every professional hippie-rebel is here, with their standard cries, of which "We the people must become the water guardians of the 21st century" is entirely typical.The solutions, when they arrive near the end, are just too irritatingly naïve. Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth... Don't have a lawn... This is kindergarden-logic, as though the whole world is a well-run classroom. But then comes a surprise. The small town of Bolinas, California, has had a true brainwave. No new houses to be built, no more population to be encouraged, beyond the capacity of the water-supply. At long last, a breath of common-sense. Rights carry responsibilities. Instead of demanding clean water as a human right, you go to where the water is clean, if you want to raise a family. But alas, Bolinas is depressingly alone in its wisdom, a strange recluse-village that can only be reached by unmarked roads, and dismissed as yet another kookie Californian experiment.

These people seem to have no real understanding of market mechanisms or of personal responsibility. The moment they said that we have an energy shortage already and because of this desalination is not an option, I started rolling my eyes. It goes to show that people who have no understanding of economics should stay away from policy work, because they only screw things up. Of course there are problems with the private companies but this film totally fails to capture the true cores of the problems which have to do with excessive ownership rights, rent seeking and political power.Like usual laymen will love this movie but there's a reason most academics will dismiss it. Just to be clear, there are some valid inventions being talked about though perhaps not market ready yet its just that the these people fail to grasp the concept of adding bottom lines to market mechanisms, such as pigovian taxes, which is likely to be one of the few intelligent solutions and perhaps the most efficient.

We can't live without water. You may have thought it was a human right. But certain corporations have been plotting to control the water supply on this planet for a while now, and have been moving into place around the globe. Now the World Bank has required certain governments to privatize their precious water supply -- make it a corporate commodity answerable only to stockholders -- as a condition to getting a loan. In some places it is now illegal to catch rainwater, because rain is being considered private property, including the United States. The evil of this worldwide corporate grab for control of your most precious resource is practically inconceivable, but it is happening. Blue Gold: World Water Wars is a landmark documentary that every school, library and church should own and show. Do you want the cost of your water to be controlled by private corporations and stockholders only interested in their bottom line? Do you want to give up your right to the water around you, including rain? It is time to get educated and get active. Start with this film.

I saw this film at the Vancouver International Film Festival and got quite drawn into the subject matter. The film clearly outlines the politics of water distribution and the problems that are developing. I had thought before watching this film that we had a ban on the commercial export of water in Canada... If you think that too you should consider watching this film and making up your own mind about these issues. I was also surprised at how global the management of water resources was and how few large companies are bidding to manager my access to clean water.Well worth watching if you have ever wondered why bottled water cost so much or have any concerns about what happens when access to water becomes a commercial and political concern.