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Summary:

            **Flow: For Love of Water is a 2008 documentary film directed by Irena Salina, produced by Steven Starr and co-produced by Gill Holland and Yvette Tomlinson. The film features interviews with water and community activists Maude Barlow, Peter Gleick, Ashok Gadgil, William Waterway, Rajendra Singh, and Vandana Shiva. The film won the Grand Jury Award at the Mumbai International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary at the United Nations Film Festival.

                        (This is the intro to the already existing article on Flow)

The main problem being exposed in this documentary is the concept of water privatization and the demolishing truth, that large water companies are taking advantage of a natural, necessary to life resource all over the world. Large water companies are making tremendous profits off of water, which in comparison to the warmth of the sun, has no ownership. 

In a $400 billion industry, the poorer communities around the world are the ones experiencing this substantial issue at its peak. They are being forced and condemned to drink and use polluted water; that has been chemically contaminated.  Companies such as Vivendi, Thames Water, and Suez, are traveling to these less fortunate areas and are mandating the indigenous people to involuntarily give up the control of their water pumping systems.

Humans are not the only ones being effected by the act of infusing once clean water with poisonous substances.  Ecosystems everywhere have been suffering the consequences these wealthy and dangerous institutions have caused.  The genetic makeup of aquatic animals have been found to mutate due to their exposure to the chemicals constantly surrounding them.

The question is raised; who put these corporations in charge of tampering and regulating our right to water supply and sources?  Water has become the third largest profitable industry in the world and the companies in charge of water supply do not care about the deadly effects they have created as long as they continue cashing in. 

Synopsis:

According to Flow: For Love of Water, there are 6 billion people on this planet, and of that number, 1.1 billion humans do not have reliable access to safe drinking water (Thirsty for Change).  Salina’s film captures the obvious facts behind the world wide water crisis. At this point in time, there are more people on this planet that have a cell phone, than those who have access to clean water (Blue Gold). Water is as essential to life as the oxygen we breathe; the growing global emergency that is developing due to the lack of clean water should instill a fear in every living being on this planet. Developing countries face the repercussions head on through some of the most polluted water systems in the world.  The gruesome water circumstances these people turn to everyday are due to the World Bank challenging a human’s right to clean water and contorting it into a profitable industry.  The transition to private water systems has forced many poor communities in third-world countries to forfeit their centuries old water systems and resources, to these larger companies whose only concern is money. The term used across the globe for what these companies are trying to accomplish is called water privatization.  The three major water companies that are continuously growing are Suez, Vivendi, and Thames Water (Water Privatization).  As mentioned in the film, these three companies are expanding at tremendous rates.  In 2001, they had a combined revenue of $160 billion and were expected to continue growing at an increased rate of 10 percent each year (Water Privatization).

Many of the countries mentioned in the film, such as Bolivia and India, struggle with the devastating impacts waterborne diseases have created in their communities.  More people have died due to the carelessness of large water companies disregarding their promises and responsibilities, than all the casualties combined from the worldwide wars and violence (Privatization of Water as a Commodity).  The difference between developed countries and third-world countries is precisely the fact that developed nations, like the U.S., have the proper means and infrastructure to afford and comply with the demands of the water privatization companies (Thirsty for Change).  It is necessary these communities have clean water, as shown in the documentary, to sustain a lifestyle adequate for survival.  Part of the necessary change for developing countries is to make the positive step forward in obtaining a sense of stability within their overall community and have the opportunity to inspire a positive economic movement. The down factor is the governments in these poorer countries do not have the funds to finance the development of clean water and end up taking the easy, inhumane way out; submitting to water privatization (Thirsty for a Change).   The concept of privatization seems fairly simple on paper, the goals are relatively the same across the board, promising positive change. Supposedly, the main expectations that are to be upheld by these large companies include the accessibility of sanitary water to the public at a larger scale and providing quality, clean water by the standards provided and put in place by the World Health Organization (Thirsty for a Change). 

However, in the case of the Bolivian water wars as well as many others, there is a prime example of how the privatization of a countries water system erupted in a political controversy and devastating revolt.  In 1999, the Bolivian government made the decision to auction off Cochabamba’s, the third largest city in Bolivia, water system.  At the time, for the Bolivian government, the deal seemed like the right option, but they were blinded by deceit (Leasing the Rain).  In this contract, Aguas del Tunari, was given the rights to control and own Bolivia’s water network; including their smaller systems.  The agreement included industrial, agricultural, and residential rights to the countries water system.  Aguas del Tunari even had control over water systems communities had built together that had nothing to do with these companies.  This resulted in the citizens of Bolivia joining together to revolt and take back their water systems; which they succeeded in doing.

Winona Laduke, an Earth activist, spoke the truth by releasing a statement saying, “Someone needs to explain to me why wanting clean drinking water makes you an activist, and why proposing to destroy water with chemical warfare doesn’t make a corporation a terrorist.”

In India, Rajendra Singh came to work at the Ghopalpura Village in ’84 to help bring education to the community; but when he got there, he realized water was the actual problem. 

Release:

Flow: For Love of Water first premiered in the U.S. on January 20^th 2008 at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In that same year, the documentary spread throughout the world screening in many more countries such as, Greece, Australia, Poland, Iceland, and Denmark.  In 2009, Czech Republic and Japan shared the documentary, with Japan being the only one of all the countries to air the movie on television; whereas the rest were all aired at film festivals.  The U.S. premiered this film at four different film festivals including the Cleveland International Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival; all on different dates. Croatia was the last to share the film in 2011.

(Imdb)

Box Office:

The estimated budget for this film was $500,000 according to Imdb. On the March 24^th, 2008 screening the film was thought to have brought in $3,644 of revenue in the U.S. The overall gross total came out to be $142,569.

Critical Reviews:

According to the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, there were 47 reviews done by approved “tomatometter critics” and of those 47 reviews, Flow scored and 81% approval rating.  However, 1,527 user reviews were also calculated and the film only received a 77% approval rate from those users averaging a 3.9/5 stars.

A month after the premiere in the U.S., Patricia Hluchy from the Toronto Star, touched on how enlightening the film is to the water crisis this world is experiencing today stating; “Salina's film might have been stronger had it not tried to cover so many water-related issues. But there's no denying its power.”

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2008/10/17/flow_lacks_style_but_sends_powerful_message.html

Awards

“Flow” was official selected, which is different from a nomination, in 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival.  The documentary was also awarded best documentary at the Vail International Film Festival in 2008 and in the same year, won the International jury prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival.  The film was then the winner of the best documentary at the United Nations Film Festival.

See Also:

Blue Gold: World Water Wars (documentary)