When are we going to learn that if we stick crap into the earth, she’s gonna spit it out right back at us? And that we’re going to end up eating it, drinking it and bathing our children in it? Whether it is garbage in landfills, acid water eating at the foundations of Joburg or our latest toy, high pressured, chemically treated, carcinogenic water that is used in the hotly debated fracking practice. It really does make no sense.

In a nutshell

Josh Fox is approached by an oil company to lease his land to them for fracking. They offer him a lot of money, enough to make him suspicious. He decides to investigate and sets off with video camera in hand to the closest county where fracking is being used.

Mood of the film

Josh, starts out by being merely intrigued by people being able to set their tap water on fire. Soon the reality of the situation sets in and his mood darkens towards despair.

Best one-liner

A rhetorical question posed by a pro-fracker to Halliburton, the company, pioneering fracking: “If you weren’t able to do this hydraulic fracturing, how much more would we be dependant on foreign oil? And terrorism?”

Best performance

Josh is certainly the star of his own documentary, but he is upstaged on a few occasions by some intriguing characters he interviews. I especially enjoyed the antie keeping dead animals in her freezer as proof.

Horrifying scene

A farmer uses a blowtorch to heat his well water, water both him and his wife drank. The liquid plastic in the water soon turns to small plastic sheets as it melts together!

Negatives

Not enough people will see this film.

Is the film relevant today?

Come on!

FYI

Visit http://www.stopfracking.co.za to help stop fracking in South Africa.

Rotten Tomatoes Score

97%

My score

I agree.