GasLand (2010) & GasLand part II (2013)

I'm a fracking-hater, and this pair of documentaries gave me more information to fuel, pun intended, my hatred. Both directed by and starring Josh Fox, they are available streaming on amazon.com (free with a Prime membership), as DVDs on netflix, and, of course, you can buy both DVDs on amazon to benefit the anti-fracking movement. I don't really have to tell you that "fracking" is short for hydraulic fracturing, whereby toxic chemicals are shot deep into the earth to release natural gas, some of which is harvested as fuel, some of which is totally wasted. The technology does not yet exist to fully clean/dispose of the chemicals, leaving a poisonous residue that threatens water supplies wherever they go. Not to mention the prodigious amount of fresh water--a limited resource essential to all life--literally trashed in the process. Don't get me started. Oops. Too late.

Both documentaries are really good. I watched Part I at home, streaming on netflix, the night before going to a local screening of Part II in January. Part I (107 minutes) was nominated for an Oscar, losing to Inside Job, and has dramatic scenes of tap water being ignited in many locations. Rottentomatoes critics rate it an impressive 97% and audiences 87.

Part II (125 minutes) begins with the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill and has lots more terrible stuff, including sick people and life savings destroyed when homes become unsellable. Only three critics, albeit positive, weighed in on rottentomatoes, so it's unrated by them, but audiences averaged 80%.

I guess if I had to choose one to recommend I'd choose the first because it's a better movie overall. I get why he wanted to make another, but the first one is tighter. Then again, the second one travels to locations farther afield and details more horrors. Really, anyone interested in our precious water should watch both. Fox is still an activist and you can keep up with his work at his website. You want to be afraid, be very afraid, as I am? Look at the map on that site.