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Reviewsby Michou Landon, unless otherwise notedReview PolicyMt. Shasta Magazine does not do reviews in-house. If you have a book, CD, DVD or product you would like us to review, you should send two copies. The first is to our editor, who has final approval on all reviews, at Mt Shasta Magazine, POB 1289, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067. The second goes to our reviewer, Michou Landon, 6247 Willow Lane, Boulder, CO 80301. With reviews only, preference is given to advertisers. Those wanting to reprint a review in another publication should contact our editor for approval. There is a small fee involved.
Audience ReviewsAn Audience Review of Flow, the award-winning Documentary Film by Irena Salina by Meadow Barr One audience member sums it up: "How does an individual address the issue of these multinational corporations? The worldwide dominant power, and grabs of our precious resources? How can an individual think of it? That is what the film answered. That empowered individuals working together, that we have that much affect. With others that care, much can be accomplished. I came away moved, empowered and relived." There were statements in the film that stuck with me: "The 21st Century is the century of the common people." "It is our political will needed to invest in rebuilding our water infrastructureÜwe need an army of water activists in every Congressional District in the United States." "We don't need education, we need water." There were also images captured, like the innocent look of a grown man asking us to reflect on what really matters in our lives, and our lifestyle choices. This is a man who lost 5 cousins to diarrheal disease understanding the loss of his aunts and uncles only after he has his own children and invents an ultraviolet water treatment system that serves hundreds of thousands of people — one small solution that is easily replicable. The film pans the faces of the century's global water justice leaders, Maude Barlow from Canada, Vandana Shiva from India, Peter Gleick from the United States and faces of the world's poorest peoples. People who are pushed aside and called dirty, because the roads are dirty and they don't have clean water. Faces from South America, South Africa and India, Thailand and Mexico. These greatly outnumber the suited visages of the world's largest water company CEO's. You see the link of corruption between these multinationals, governments, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the World Water Council. All touting the line of providing safe water to the world's poor while at the same time saying the world's poor should want to pay for their water. Not only to want to pay, but to pay in advance with prepaid water meters. Your mind will swirl with images and statements, "the World Bank knows how to spend a billion dollars in one place, but they don't know how to spend a thousand dollars in a million places, and that is what is needed. The solutions to water problems are local." An amazing fact is that the world spends three times as much every year on bottled water than is needed to provide a safe water supply for the entire world's population. The income people spend on bottled water could be funneled into those $1,000 dollar chunks of money needed to provide simple local solutions to the world's poor. Images of powerful water, both free flowing from waterfalls and bursting forth from behind a large dam. Large dams in the 20th Century have misplace multiple millions of people worldwide, ruining their lives, flooding their lands and ancestors and ironically contributing more to the greenhouse effect than coal plants because of the release of methane, a gas more harmful than carbon dioxide. This movie begs for a sequel that shares the thousands of solutions and provides people with tangible ways to bring prosperity to their communities through clean water. People celebrating water, children carrying water on their heads, children jumping into water holes; the strength of a child's contemplative stare at the sacred Ganges River. A film reflecting on our relationship with water and nature: as an Indian man says, "we are only taking from the nature and not giving back." How can you make a movie about water? "Flow, for the love of water." Life on earth is about water. Each human is like a molecule of water. Water flows through our bodies in our veins and arteries like a mini hydrologic cycle just like water flows from the mountaintops to the sea through the rivers, or the earth's arteries. A common critique was that audience members found the film beautiful, but too long and that the stories bounced around too much. Should people see this film? Absolutely yes. To not see this film is to know that a tidal wave is coming and not to move to high ground. Everyone must see this film and take the man's advice and reflect on what really matters in our lives, our lifestyle and to decide what actions are in alignment with our values and to take action. Because a million, a billion people together will become the river. Together we can move dams, revitalize and restore streams. Water connects everything in life. How do we protect all the water in the world? By each individual becoming alive, beginning to act and joining others until the stream of people protecting water and protecting the right to water for all is universal and inalienable. If you already know what the problems are then see the movie and you'll understand more. If you don't know what the problems are then see the movie and get sobered up. If you want to know what the solutions are you will be teased, but given enough hope to learn more, take action and get involved in protecting your water resources where ever you live, and to help bring safe water to the world's poor. The film provokes many questions: What does it mean California only has 25 years of water left? Who owns the water? Who owns the courts when a corporation argues that citizens don't have a right to sue them and the court rules in favor of the corporation? How do we govern our common resources, and the resources we need for life? Our air, water, soil, seeds, and sunlight? Sometimes you hear the expression a "watershed moment." Well, Flow is a "watershed movie". Everyone can unite around water. Water can serve as a catalyst for peace. Together we can make a difference. More Audience Member comments: "Hopeful, inspiring, and solutions exist." "This film is a spur in the side for the little people. It provides hope that we can do something" "The film needed to be even clearer in its argument that it is immoral to sell water" "The film needed to focus more on solutions. People need hope on what to do." "It is easy to become depressed by problems, but even one person can make a difference. Just by word of mouth we can stop supporting these corporations by choosing what we buy local." "Beautifully done. The fact that we only have 25 years of fresh water left in California is sobering. What will we do? The film is a good warning." "The clay wheel merry go round to draw up water from the well is a great idea. It builds a sense of community." "It was good that the film investigates other cultures, but we need to bring that message home. The Bureau of Land Management is already working on raising Shasta Dam. Westlands Water District bought a huge piece of land on the lower McCloud River. Department of Water Resources is having a meeting to raise Antlers Bridge. We need to take this message south and concentrate on solutions — people in southern California need to use rainwater catchment and graywater systems." "It was sobering realizing how many people die around the world and how lack of safe water keeps poverty in place. And then how we are in the position to lose our water, even here." "Amazing that it only would cost 30 billion to supply water to everyone, yet we spent three times that on bottled water, not to mention what we've spent on Iraq."
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