Tap water shouldn't catch on fire

By Edward Copeland

Just last week, T. Boone Pickens returned to The Daily Show to discuss how natural gas was a safe energy resource that the U.S. had plentiful supplies of that it could use to wean itself off its dependency on foreign oil. However, when Jon Stewart brought up the subject of "fracking," Pickens got tongue-tied. That's probably why he and every major natural gas executive in America refused to be interviewed about the process for Josh Fox's documentary GasLand, which details the destruction that has been unleashed on people, animals, and the environment by the practice.

Fox had never made a documentary before but sort of stumbled into it when he noticed the changes happening in the creek near his family home in rural Pennsylvania following an offer from Halliburton to lease the family's land for natural gas exploration. While they would receive a few hundred thousand dollars from the agreement, as had many rural Americans across the country, they'd also encounter poisoned water sources, dead animals, health problems and more, all which seem to stem from the process used to retrieve the natural gas.

It inspired Fox to go on a cross-country journey to other sites to see the damage done by the hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) process, which the companies insist were safe but which evidence proves otherwise. In a way, it doesn't matter because the 2005 Energy Bill, formed in the wake of the secretive Cheney Energy Task Force, exempts all energy companies from safety regulations that had been in place for decades, some dating back to the Nixon Administration, so the corporations basically can do whatever they want in the least-expensive way without any concerns for the safety of nearby residents, the companies' own workers or the environment itself.

As one man tells Fox, "Amazing. What took millions of years for Mother Nature to build can be destroyed in hours by heavy equipment." If only the equipment were the main problem... What's really causing all the destruction is the seepage of a virtual stew of hazardous chemicals that are used in the fracking process to retrieve the natural gas. It's pretty amazing to watch scene after scene in state after state of people putting a lit match next to a flowing faucet or a stream and see the flames burst forth.

There are other stories that you hear repeatedly as residents complain about contamination only to be told that the water is safe by government or company officials, who then refuse to drink a glass of the tap water when the residents offer one. It's even more disgusting when Fox meets with representatives of state departments of environmental protection and they speak the corporate party line, denying that contamination is as widespread as it is, or at congressional hearings where executives testify that there isn't any evidence of risks and the happy House members, including a particularly dumb-looking and -sounding Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.), side with the businesses.

Meanwhile, Fox learns of those who have contracted cancer and died, the risks of brain damage from repeated exposure, pets losing hair and a Colorado woman who keeps the corpses of mass and sudden animal deaths preserved in her freezer for any potential investigations. Even more frightening is learning how Hurricanes Katrina and Rita scattered the junk from hundreds of thousands of sites all over the place.

GasLand is a pretty good effort for a first-time filmmaker such as Fox and another example of a documentarian doing the investigative work that the Fourth Estate has abandoned. You do learn a lot, though he tends to repeat himself and I don't think it belongs in Oscar's final five documentary features compared to some of the other finalists and nonfinalists from 2010 that I've seen. Still, it's very good and yet another case of showing the indifference both corporate America and our elected leaders have toward the average citizen's wellbeing.

(Cross-posted at Edward Copeland on Film.)

I'm Pat f***king Tillman — why are you shooting at me?

By Edward Copeland 

That post title is the last words the former NFL star turned Army Ranger said before he was killed in Afghanistan by his own troops in 2004.

We are living in the Golden Age of Nonfiction. I thought it silly when the Oscars expanded best picture to 10 nominees, but I could live with them doubling the number of documentary feature nominees because documentaries get better and better. I have a difficult time cutting it down to five. I've only seen one 2010 documentary that I've given a negative review. More importantly, this meant that Oscar finalist The Tillman Story didn't make the final cut and it's the second-best 2010 documentary I've seen (so far).

For the Bush Administration, the wars in Afghanistan and later in Iraq weren't just campaigns for whatever reason they chose to give on any particular day, they also were part of a re-election strategy and whenever there was a chance to sell a positive story to the lazy eager-to-echo-anything press, they took it. So, when Pat Tillman, who earned millions in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals, decided to give up his football career to join the fight against terrorism after 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told his subordinates to keep special watch on him. This was an American hero in the making that would make for great P.R.

Things didn't turn out that way exactly, though the government and high-ranking Pentagon officials did their best to keep their heroic scenario when Tillman was killed April 22, 2004, the initial story was the he died from enemy fire in an ambush, going so far as to credit him for saving the lives of some of his fellow soldiers and Gen. Stanley McChrystal awarded him the Silver Star posthumously. Just one problem: That was all a lie. Tillman died as a result of friendly fire and it took years and the persistence of his family to get at the truth.

Director Amir Bar-Lev gives a detailed portrait of who Tillman was both before and after his enlistment and with testimony from others who served with him, evokes a sense of outrage at the coverup, misguided accusations and fall guys the government used because their desired tailor-made American hero failed to pan out the way they envisioned. Ironically, during his unit's Iraq deployment Tillman was even there to witness the lengths they went in setting up the false tale of Pvt. Jessica Lynch's rescue. They were kept waiting 24 hours before retrieving Lynch to allow time for the camera crew to arrive. During his time in Iraq, Tillman also turned against Bush and the war effort, commenting to fellow soldiers that the Iraq war was "so fucking illegal." Bar-Lev keeps the focus moving with complete clarity and this documentary is quite a change-of-pace from his previous one, 2007's My Kid Could Paint That.

Narrated by Josh Brolin, The Tillman Story shows the true Pat Tillman, one that defied all stereotypes one would lump on the star athlete. He was a well-read man (Chomsky and Emerson; most religious texts, despite his atheism) who graduated from Arizona State with a 3.8 G.P.A. While the administration and the media were eager to wrap Tillman's decision to forgo his lucrative NFL career with a simple patriotic motive, Tillman himself refused interviews on the subject.

Even though both he and his very close younger brother Kevin joined up as Army Rangers, Tillman was determined to keep his reasons private. However, before he'd ever made the decision to enlist, various NFL players were filmed giving reactions to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and this footage was usurped by the Pentagon in their P.R. efforts to define Tillman's motive, be it true or not.

The entire Tillman family could be viewed somewhat as iconoclasts, compared to most Americans, so as far as I'm concerned that's what endears them to me all the more. When his family first learns of his death, they were given the false story of the ambush and the enemy fire. Still, even at the large, made-for-television memorial service Washington assembled (despite the fact that on his enlistment papers Pat Tillman specifically said he wanted no military funeral. Military officials even tried to take advantage of his grieving wife Marie to get Pat buried at Arlington.), while speakers spoke of God's blessings, etc., ignoring Pat's quite vocal status, like most of his family, as an atheist, his youngest brother Rich thanked the previous speakers for their thoughts but said, "Pat isn't with God. He's fucking dead."

Once soldiers on the scene spoke out and the Pentagon was forced to admit that Tillman was a victim of friendly fire, D.C. realized they picked the wrong family to screw with as his mom began a years-long campaign to get at the truth about the coverup. The story as told proves both inspiring and frustrating, as the Army drops so many documents, most redacted, upon Dannie Tillman, that she and another veteran start approaching them like some sort of crossword puzzle to decipher what names and words are blacked out.

In one of the most infuriating incidents, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, who Tillman served under in Afghanistan, went on ESPN and made comments to the effect that the reason the Tillman family wouldn't let it go and just accept the Army's story was that because they were atheists and didn't believe in God, it would be hard for them to accept any truths. Eventually, after they finally got a congressional inquiry, Kauzlarich was demoted in retirement and remains the only person who received any sanction for the coverup.

On the other hand, the soldiers who did speak to the truth, were all punished in other ways for essentially being whistle-blowers.

Credit for the excellence of The Tillman Story should also be given to Mark Monroe for compiling this massive amount of information into a workable script for Bar-Lev to direct into such a coherent, compelling and, yes, chilling film. It almost makes me want to synopsize the entire documentary, but it's better to see it for yourself.

The ultimate irony about Pat Tillman is that the Bush Administration wanted to mold him into a hero for their own cynical, political purposes but by the covering up of the way he died, it enabled us to see who the real Pat Tillman was and he was more patriotic and a hero on a far grander scale than any P.R. flaks could have dreamed up. It's tragic that he died the way he did, but it's reassuring to know that men like him still exist in the first place.

(Cross-posted at Edward Copeland on Film.)

Guitry, Kurosawa, Lang, Wenders, Ford: My favourite movie experiences of 2010

By Michael J.W. Stickings 

As you may have heard, the Golden Globes were handed out yesterday at a look at us, we're celebrities, aren't we so special? schmooze-fest in L.A., grotesque even by the standards of awards shows.

Not that I care, though, and not that you should either.

The Golden Globes are handed out by a small cabal known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It may not be as corrupt as FIFA or the IOC, but it's probably pretty close.

Honestly, do we really believe that these awards, or those who decide them, are in any way credible? That they are really about excellence in television and film?

At the very least, it seems odd -- even in Hollywood -- that such a cabal could wield such influence. Which, let's face it, is all that really matters beyond the chance for celebrities to act like celebrities on national TV, to look beautiful and bask in their own fleeting glory.

Yes, all that really matters -- and surely Ricky Gervais knows this -- is that the Golden Globes are generally seen as predictors of the far more important, if not all that much more credible, Oscars.

And this year, it would seem -- and I'll restrict myself to the movies here, as I really don't care about the TV awards -- the major Golden Globe winners are very likely the major Oscar winners:

Best Picture: The Social Network

Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Now, to be fair, I haven't seen all that many of the contenders. I used to see most of the major releases when they came out in theaters, but now, with other priorities, I generally wait for them to appear on video. And of course there may well be a surprise or two. For example, don't rule out Toy Story 3 for Best Picture. I found it significantly less enjoyable than the first two, and far less enjoyable that Pixar's recent masterpieces, such as Wall-E, but eventually the industry is going to have to recognize the fact that Pixar makes movies of greater emotional and intellectual depth than pretty much anything else coming out of Hollywood, and there may not have been a better-reviewed film all year.

I would also note that you never quite know what's going to happen with ten Best Picture nominees, and it's possible that a blockbuster like Inception, which I disliked immensely (stupid and showy, for the most part), wins it all. Hollywood likes nothing more than success, after all.

And, again, what do I know? I haven't seen most of the major contenders yet. I'm just basing this on what I read and hear about where this awards season is heading.

I would just like to add that my favourite movie experiences of 2010 had nothing to do with any of the Golden Globe winners and likely Oscar nominees. Here they are:

-- The Criterion Collection's Presenting Sacha Guitry box set, including the absolutely wonderful The Story of a Cheat (1936). Honestly, one of the best movies I've ever seen, from a generally unknown director on this side of the Atlantic but one of France's finest.

(I would add that I'm halfway (two of four) through Criterion's The First Films of Akira Kurosawa box set. I've seen most of the master's later and more famous films, but these are simply a revelation.)

-- The complete Metropolis, released by Kino, the definitive version, carefully reconstructed of Fritz Lang's silent 1927 masterpiece about capitalism. Stunning.

-- The Criterion Blu-ray version of Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire, one of the best films of the '80s. Truly and utterly beautiful, humane and humanitarian, about angels watching over the people of Berlin, about being human.

-- The Criterion Blu-ray version of John Ford's Stagecoach, an American classic, with a young John Wayne, that is better than ever.

-- Pixar's Ratatouille, which I saw when it first came out on video a few years ago and found disappointing. I watched it again with my daughters recently -- and then again on TV and once more on video -- and loved it. One of Pixar's best, up there with Wall-E, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, parts of the first two Toy Story movies, and the amazing marriage sequence at the beginning of Up!.

(Alright, there is another, and it's going to be one of 2010's best for me: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which I saw in the theater over the summer and again recently on Blu-ray. It's fantastic entertainment.)

I'll likely post again on the movies as we get a bit closer to the Oscars, and once I've seen the major contenders. I highly doubt, however, that I will see anything nearly as good as The Story of a Cheat, Wings of Desire, or Stagecoach.