I’m not a big fan of disaster movies, with rare exceptions (e.g. Titanic, Poseidon Adventure). This movie is another one of those rare exceptions. It is excellent from stem to stern, or port to bow, or front to back. The acting is excellent, the story is believable, the disaster was real, and the consequences catastrophic. If you ever had a doubt about what a disaster fossil fuel (aka oil) drilling can be, watch this movie, or just ask a lot of very angry Okies out there in fracking land. America needs to get off of dirty energy like coal and oil, and just as quick as possible. Politicians who say ‘drill baby drill’ need the drill applied to their heads, because obviously, while they may have cavities in their mouth, they clearly have big cavities in their heads (I’m talking to you politicians owned by the Koch brothers and the American Petroleum Industry). But back to our movie. Here’s a useful summary of this 99 minute tension filled drama—
“On April 20th, 2010, one of the world’s largest man-made disasters occurred on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. Directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor), this story honors the brave men and women whose heroism would save many on board, and change everyone’s lives forever.” In other words, this is not just a disaster movie, its a heroic rescue movie as well, starring Mark Wahlberg (those Boston Wahlberg, Afleck, Damon boys are dang good actors), Kurt Russell, John Malkovich and Kate Hudson who are all excellent in this film. The movie raises the right questions about the carelessness of profit driven oil companies who don’t maintain their equipment properly or do the proper stress testing necessary, but just keep rolling the dice and hoping things don’t go wrong. Besides…. what could go wrong in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig? It’s not like there are any fish or wildlife or the livelihood of shrimpers and the like, on the line here, not to mention pristine beaches and swamps and eco-zones. Not to mention the workers on the oil rig, many of whom lost their lives that day in 2010.
If you are looking for a film to watch in the current dead zone of good movies, before the Christmas films start showing up next month, this one is worth your time. Be prepared to be disturbed— the story line is ripped from the headlines and frankly, should have already taught us a lesson about taking care of our increasingly fragile environment and eco-zones.
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