MOVIE: GASLAND

When the water coming out of your kitchen tap catches fire, you know that you have a problem. In Gasland, director and part-time banjo player Josh Fox takes his audience into the homes, farms and back-yards of Americans living with the negative impact of the booming natural gas industry. Although Fox’s style is gentler and more engaging than the focused crusading of Michael Moore, there is no doubt that this film rallies around the same instinctive mistrust of big business and government that has become the staple for a generation of American documentary makers – it is no surprise that Gasland won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. The heart of this film is in the stories of the real people Fox meets, from desperate farmers to couples coping with cancer, reminding the audience that our thirst for energy doesn’t come without a price. (TB)