Gasland

Josh Fox owns land in Pennsylvania. One day a letter arrives: an energy company offers a large sum to extract gas on his property. Before signing, he decides to look into it. He travels to places where the same method is used: Colorado, Wyoming, Texas and other states. He meets people telling the same story: the well water has gone bad, animals have fallen ill, people have dizziness and skin problems. In some houses the tap water catches fire from a lighter. Josh Fox directs. The documentary dates from 2010. Its subject is hydraulic fracturing; gas is extracted by forcing water and chemicals into rock, and the argument is over whether those chemicals reach the groundwater. It was nominated for best documentary at the Oscars and carried the subject into mainstream debate. The gas industry ran a detailed counter campaign against the film and disputed some of its claims; the cause of the burning tap water in particular was argued over. Fox made a follow-up film in later years and continued the argument. The method is personal; the director narrates in his own voice and drives from place to place. Its limit is method; the scientific argument is simplified and the narrative is partisan. Who it is for: people who watch environmental documentary and activist cinema. Who it is not for: the narrative is one sided, the technical detail is thin, and some claims are contested.