EcoWorldly

These facts may surprise you:

1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water.*

There are over 116,000 human-made chemicals that are finding their way into public
water supply systems.*

Water is a $400 billion dollar global industry; the third largest behind electricity and oil.*

Flow, a new film about the implications of the world water crisis, can help you wrap your head around those dismaying figures. The film, which opens tomorrow, investigates the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with a careful attention to politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Stories are told about how water has changed people’s lives and health, communities’ economies, and corporations’ bottom line. Throughout the film, we are asked to ponder “How did a handful of corporations steal our water?” and “Can anyone really own water?” For centuries water has been called “blue gold,” and after this film you will understand why.

• » See also: Oceans’ Ability to Absorb Carbon & Protect Against Climate Change Weakening
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Subtitled “For Love Of Water,” Flow has been a five-year labor of love for all involved. The film was directed by Irena Salina, produced by Steven Starr and distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories . Spanning a time frame of several years, and covering ground around the globe–from Michigan, U.S.A., to a village in India, to South Africa and beyond–Flow uses interviews with activists, scientists, politicians and environmental experts to encapsulate many of the controversies related to water.

More than excelling at the standards of the documentary film, Flow also merits acclaim as a work of art. The film’s engaging storylines and alarming facts about the world’s water crisis may distract the viewer from appreciating the film’s beautifully crafted soundtrack and vivid cinematography, done by the director and Pablo de Selva. Not only is Flow well-researched, but it is also well-made.

As an official selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Flow has already garnered critical acclaim. It won the Jury Prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival, and was named the Best Human Interest film at the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Vail International Film Festival.

But the recognition that truly matters is not from critics, but from regular citizens like me and you. If everyone knew just a little more about the political, environmental, and social dimensions of the water they consume on a daily basis, our world would be quite a different place. Go watch this film!

Click here to watch the film’s trailer.

Flow opens this Friday in New York and Los Angeles, and nationwide in the following weeks. For theatre listings, click here.

* Read my Q&A with Irena Salina, the film’s director, here.

* This movie review is part of Eco Worldly’s week-long focus on water issues around the globe.

Photo Credit: www.flowthefilm.com

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