Goingbegging
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.
horatius_u
I chose this movie to review for one of my college classes, "Sustainability and the Future; Seven Revolutions." As a nontraditional student who is retired from the military, I am very cautious of what environmentalists say. As a child of the 70's I remember being taught in school that the next big Ice Age was coming do to global cooling, so skepticism was the rule for me initially when watching this film. The noticeable left leaning tone of the movie initially almost forced me to change my mind on continuing with this project. In the end I chose to at least finish watching the film before making my final decision. That choice was a good one in my opinion now that I have finished watching the film. The film brings into perspective the tie-in of world politics, multinational corporations, local-national economies, and water. The bottle water industry has always been a mystery to me as to why it took off in inside the United States. Overseas where there is limited or no infrastructure for providing easy access to potable water it is understandable. The convenience of being able to get a chilled bottle of water really isn't worth the cost to me. Personally I drink too much water throughout my day to be able to afford the luxury of buying my water that way! The advertising that makes it appear that bottled water is in some way healthier than the tap is crazy. In some areas the bottled water is just tap water that has been packaged and sold at a much higher price than the regular tap water. The one area that absolutely leaves me scratching my head is the privatization of water supplies. The World Bank actually forcing a country to privatize its water to get help? How is it possible that this can be seen as a good thing? I have traveled extensively in Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia; it never dawned on me the extent of how closed the water markets are in some of these areas. Now looking back the film brought up the pricing of water and coke in African nations. That is so true, I did see it and didn't realize at the time what it meant to the locals. I could not fathom living in a country that subsisted in that manner. In my own country I never would have thought that it was a good idea to sell the water rights to a multinational corporation. Major cities have done just that, and what has it cost the citizen of those cities in rate hikes, sub-par service and other factors. We as citizens of the United States need to wake up and see that we are cutting our own throats in some aspects by allowing Politicians and Business CEOs to make life altering choices with the essential things we need to sustain life as we know it without even a vote on the matter. We also need to hold United States Corporations to higher standard when they operate in other countries around the world as they are part of the problems highlighted in this film. Yes, Coke; I am talking about you! Overall I will give this film an 8 out of 10. As it is a older film a lot of the information is still relevant and most people are not aware of what we are doing to our country or the world with the everyday actions we take in living our lives. I watched Tapped after this and might even do a review of it later on.Thank You for reading my review!
Chaeber Barmby
This is a brilliant documentation which reminds us of how valuable a commodity water is and how easily the western world takes it unwittingly for granted. The information contained in the video is detailed and very well presented. Some of the contents was scary especially the political side of this resource which quite frankly should be non-existent. Water is life and everyone on the face of this planet should have access to it. I believe this movie would do well in schools worldwide. More awareness needs to be made of our dwindling resource and also the exposure of how corporate giants and private collectives are trying to control and profiteer from an essential commodity. I would encourage everyone to purchase this movie in show of support for Sam Bozzo's excellent presentation. I'll definitely be looking out for more work from Bozzo in the future. 10/10!
Norven Mirasol
This film Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)serves as a caution for all of us, it's the time to conserve our water in our daily lives. We need to fight to our right to water. To the Philippine Government its a wake-up call to create laws or to strictly implement our existing laws concerning water conservation. We need to find ways to re-build the sources of water. This film shown the importance of waters, its limited. So lets start to share this thing to our family, to our friends, to all the people around us. To those who make this film, we thanked you, we learned a lot. We are here to support your mission.
