The Big Fix

Husband-and-wife filmmakers Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell's angry documentary about the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil-well blowout of 2010 is blistering in more ways than one. After visiting the affected waters and beaches of the Gulf of Mexico (sometimes venturing into fenced-off areas), Rebecca develops skin rashes and “chemical pneumonia” from the tons of toxic solvents dumped into the ocean to clean up (or cover up) the crude. The Tickells' damning chronology of events includes a brief history of British Petroleum before turning to the recent disaster, interweaving expert commentary from EPA officials, journalists, scientists, and politicians with interviews of affected residents. The resulting portrait depicts a cost-cutting multi-billion dollar industry that skimps when it comes to caution; a Louisiana that is little more than a backwards “oil colony,” its politicos and regulators hopelessly corrupt; and a U.S. government that is merely a puppet of the polluting multinationals and their lobbyists. The muckraking exposé occasionally gets a little too show-bizzy for its own good, with appearances by actors Peter Fonda (a co-producer) and Amy Smart, as well as gratuitous Burning Man inserts. Still, this scathing film successfully exposes the shameful capitalist pathologies that led to the Deepwater Horizon horror while also reminding us of the wounds that still fester even as powerful forces try to minimize this massive eco-disaster. DVD extras include an audio commentary, an interview with singer-songwriter and anti-BP protestor Jason Mraz, a “How to Get Your Car Off Oil” short, and deleted scenes. Recommended. [Note: this is also available with public performance rights for $350 from Filmakers Library, www.filmakers.com.] Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)