For sheer wow factor you can count on Edward Burtynsky. These stunning photographs and scenery expose the vivid beauty in sludge, pollution and modern production.
I've often noticed the rainbow shine in oil on the road, this guy takes us into the world where whole ecosystems have been compromised. In the pursuit of mining coal, manufacturing products or recycling electronics in China, companies create inriguing vistas of sight and sound. Smell too I'm sure.
This stunning film could have earned a much higher rating if they'd given me a heads up of what I was going to see. I understand that the point of it going on a long time was to show the vast factories, but I got bored and hit fast forward. I suppose that lessens the impact, but I am mad with the power! ;)
I think it might be really neat to see his photographs in a book, but alas there are none at the library. Look in Bandon for the DVD.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0832903/
Amazon: Manufactured Landscapes (US Edition)
Meet the quirky types who end up traveling to Antarctica to do research or help those that do. Werner Herzog introduces us to these strange people with one on one interviews and clips of their daily frigid lifestyles.
We see some truly amazing photography of underwater exploration and discussions of how dangerous exploring can be. I like sciency stuff anyway, but this could have been on a special features DVD rather than it's own documentary. I'm not sure it stands on it's own that well.
Look in Bandon and Coquille and explore the lives and backgrounds of one of the rarer species in the coldest part of the world: humans.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093824/
Amazon: Encounters at the End of the World
I am no conspiracy theory nut, honest. That would be my husband. But when Ken Lay of Enron passed away while in jail, I thought, wow he was so rich, someone helped him fake his death. This film ENHANCED my crazy suspicions.
These guys did what the banks did. They bundled energy into instruments and sold their investors a lie. They asked for and received the right to call profit estimates real profits. That's like telling your credit card company that you make a million dollars a year because you had a really good day on January first.
THEN they took down power generation stations for no reason. This forced a shortage and they raised rates. Madness, cruelty and murderous. Ken Lay and his crowd buddied up to the Bush family and got them to pass sweeping deregulation.
I know this isn't a political blog, but OMG this just has to be said. DO NOT invest ALL of your 401k in the stock of the company you work for. PLEASE. Get sound INDEPENDENT advice.
Wanna be scared and enlightened? Pick up this DVD from Bandon or Coos Bay.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/
Amazon: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
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I didn't rate this fascinating DVD higher because it's such a mega downer. They just told us what the world was going to be like, but didn't give any suggestions for what we might do as citizens of the planet to change. Without hope, sometimes people just throw up their hands and eat another bag of chips.
The title refers to how the suburbs will disappear after we run out of oil. They claim that the world hit it's peak a few years ago and now we'll go into a steep decline as a result of that. They say everything is dependent on oil and that no process can replace it.
They said that it's now harder and more expensive to get oil out of the ground. This will drive up costs to consumers and people simply wont be able to afford to live far away from work. Huge parking lots will give way to mixed use spaces and we'll see a come back to urban living for all.
I feel these pessimists don't take into consideration the ingenuity of human thought. More than anything we love a puzzle.
I do think that suburbs tend to isolate people and a more pedestrian friendly environment might make communities stronger. But this film just talked about all the problems that were for sure going to happen.
I'd be careful to take this as gospel. Feel free to watch though. Look in Bandon for the DVD.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446320/
Amazon: The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
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