Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

An Exercise In Nonsense

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

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.

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.

I am the President of Air & Waste Management Association - Saint Louis University Student Chapter which hosted the film viewing of Blue Gold: World Water Wars on February 20, 2009 at the Saint Louis University's Center for Culture and the Arts here in Baguio City, Philippines. Many topics were raised in this film. The most interesting and most intriguing one is the privatization of fresh waters. Long had been gone since water became a commodity. Many people may not realize that we PAY for water. This film presented why we pay for a thing that is very abundant in our planet and whose hands these payments are going to.For sure, after you watch this film you will think of water in a very different way. Never thought why BLUE GOLD?It's costly...