Filled with interviews of people who live in and around the gulf, "Dirty Energy" goes in depth to tell the story of the people who were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.
Local fisherman, whose lives are changed forever tell their story. In doing so they tell the story of the loss of wildlife, loss of business and loss of self worth. Fisherman are a different type of animal, they are defined by their job. If they can't fish, many think they can't live.
Also shown is the fight with BP Oil who owned the rig that blew up. The complete cover up that they instigated. Money that was promised was never paid and when money was paid, it was a ridiculous amount considering what these people lost.
One of the most shocking interviews in the documentary are the ones done with Riki Ott who worked on the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. She is an author, public speaker and an activist. Her statistics about the Valdez spill are staggering. There is still oil in the water, species are still trying to recover and some never will.
Ott fears the same thing will happen in the Gulf.
Fisherman such as George Barisich spoke of what it means to be a fisherman and how he may never be one again.
This film breaks down to health. Health of the Gulf coast's water, the coast's animals and especially the health of the workers who tried to clean up the spill. As bad as the oil was, the chemicals used to do the clean up were worse.
Than, there is the cover up. BP oil was actually in charge of the clean up. They ended up being in charge of everything. When the fox is in charge of the chicken coop, stuff happens. This stuff includes:
Blocking the press from seeing how the clean up of the beaches was being handled.
Firing local people when they asked questions or gave input to how things were being done.
Hiring people from out of the area who didn't know what they were doing.
In short, this film should be shown in every ecology class to everyone who will work with tragedies like this in the future.
An excellent film, worthy of much praise and of an hour and a half of your time.
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