GASLAND

Though slightly overlooked in terms of attention at the actual festival, GasLand is a film that truly deserves whatever hype, if any, that it is given. Josh Fox, writer and director of this seemingly amateur documentary, delves into the lives of those fooled by the nation’s biggest natural gas corporations. The film beautifully and shockingly portrays the negative affects that are associated with what our nation has been pushing as the cleanest and most efficient alternative energy for Americans to use. We see the advertisements everywhere for natural gas and its possibilities, but this film shatters the illusion that it is an all-benefits resource.
When I entered the screening, I must admit that I was a bit nervous about the documentary itself. I thought maybe that this film would be much like “An Inconvenient Truth,” which despite its information, I didn’t much enjoy. But as the film opened with Fox’s raspy and soothing voice over discontinuous shots of nature, I knew I was onto something different.
Fox begins the film with a simple phrase of, “ let’s start here” and a picture of Dick Cheney. This immediately tells us that it is political in nature, but then he quickly withdraws, as if his mind is changing along with the audience’s. He then says, “wait, no, we’ll begin here,” with a picture of his home that resides next to a stream that flows into the Delaware River. He shows beautiful serene landscape filled with sounds of chirping birds and flowing waters. You feel as if you are staring back in time as there is no development around his home and he gratefully says “this is a place to get away from it all.” But this all was about to change with the arrival of a document on his doorstep. It is from a natural gas corporation that wanted to offer him a lucrative deal by signing over the rights to build a natural gas well on his land. He resides in a part of the country that sits on top of what he called, “a vast ocean,” or, “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.” We feel his personal curiosity and see with our eyes the meaning that this country home has to him. Thus, we begin this investigative work at his doorstep. It seems almost as if he got the letter and immediately picked up his camera to study what the result of his personal decision would be. Thus, as he further invests time in searching for answers, we invest allegiance to Fox and the people that he is serving.
By far, the driving force of the documentary is his contact with other people. Unlike a Michael Moore documentary where it is evident that we get the opinion that suits the director’s point the best, Fox seems to have no control over what the people will say. He approaches the interview as ignorant as the audience is about the affects of natural gas drilling, as if he is just learning about the problems himself. The result is pure honesty that shine’s through with each person’s story. Though the director takes an obvious stand and seeks to have you side with him in the end, he does not beat you over the head with the idea, but slowly and surely draws you into it so that you feel just as wronged as those who have been hurt by the chemical process of “fracking.”
“Fracking,” as Fox explains, is the process of hydraulic fracturing, which is a drilling process that uses a cocktail of volatile chemicals as lubricants in order to reach and release natural gas depositories hundreds of feet below the surface. Pressurized gas is then sent through this hole causing the pressure below ground to build and burst so that it releases this natural gas for tapping. However, with the rise of this gas and use of these chemicals, the ground water around the site becomes heavily contaminated. The majority of our drinking water comes from ground water, and the chemicals that resurface in this water are extremely dangerous to ingest or be around in general. Fox creates an exhausting list of known carcinogens and poisons that are used in the fracking process. And we see the effects of these chemicals on the people around these wellheads. Health problems ranging from phantom pains, to serious migraines, to brain damage are sited over and over again as he interviews person after person from Arkansas to Arizona. But this is nothing compared to the spectacle that is discovered early on in the film, which is combusting tap water. Fox turns the flaming water into an amusing trick with the use of montage and cheerful banjo music. But as soon as the music drops, and the faces of the families change to confusion and distress, we realize the impact that this spectacle has. No water in their home is safe to drink or even bathe in. We see this with family after family. The only downside to this repetition is that the shock value tends to decrease as the film goes on, and as a result the film drags a bit. But this in and of itself makes Fox’s point clearer. The sheer number of people that “fracking” has hurt only credits the documentary so much more. And as the documentary goes on, all it makes you think is how are the corporations allowed to do this?
The impact resounds when Fox talks about the legislature that was introduced during the Bush-Cheney era when Cheney signed legislation that exempted Natural Gas drilling from the Clean Water Act, allowing these corporations to use hydraulic fracturing without reporting what chemicals are used during the actual process. The documentary finishes with a press conference between politicians and company representatives on the subject of a bill proposal that seeks to make companies report chemicals for fracking. The camera closes in and the representatives speak, “there have been no findings linking these problems to hydraulic fracturing.”
Though it entertains, the power of this film is in its informative nature. Having never heard about hydraulic fracturing or its negative effects, I felt overwhelmed by the situation, yet appreciative of the director for sharing this story. Fox infuses his emotions, sarcasm, and fears into his commentary and interactions with these people. Overall, he inspires a reason to be concerned, be aware, and take action. I definitely see this film gaining a lot of attention when it gets a larger distribution.

Cast & Credits
Josh Fox, writer, director, editor
International WOW Company
Run Time: 107 minutes