Breaking Point

The Salton Sea is dying. Since the 1960s, the 343-square mile endorheic basin lake located in the Coachella and Imperial valleys in southern California has been a wasteland. Fish and birds that call the lake home have been dying en masse, and a putrid stench rises from the water, hanging over the area and sometimes stretching across lower portions of the state. Lakebed sentiment exposed by an eroding shoreline—resulting from water loss due to new water regulation—is picked up by high desert winds, creating toxic dust storms. Filmmaker Bill Wisneski's documentary chronicles the life and slow death of the largest lake in California, detailing its geological origins (accidentally formed in 1905 when regional canals flooded the area), heyday as one of the state's most popular and prosperous vacation destinations, and the subsequent disasters that sunk it. Not all doom and gloom, Breaking Point issues a clarion call to save the Salton Sea, which is a victim of both bad PR and environmental factors. Despite the death and stink, life still flourishes in its water and it's safe for recreational activity (as evidenced by interviews with those who continue to live near its shores). The film warns of greater troubles should the Salton Sea disappear, including the destruction of a crucial stop along migratory bird routes. Breaking Point is a laudable advocacy piece, but its low budget is evident, and it suffers from unnecessary and distracting man-on-the-street interviews, as well as an oddly inflected and cadenced narration that grates. Definitely worth considering for regional libraries, this is an optional purchase elsewhere. Aud: C, P. (P. Morehart)