Flow: For Love of Water (2008)

Just a terrible terrible documentary. It only shows one side of the situation, which is the film-makers right, but doesn't really give the viewer any unbiased information to form their own opinion.The whole thing is a tirade against big business, but they miss the mark on which types of businesses they are targeting. Sure, Nestle is pumping 216,000 gallons of water per day out of the ground, but what about the water that is wasted daily on cooling nuclear reactors, doing coal seam fracs (small fracs are about 600 m3 of water, 600,000 litres, or about 150,000 gallons).The film-makers didn't do their homework, the whole documentary feels like it was rushed and it didn't dig very deeply into the history behind what is going on or why. They raised a few interesting points, but could have made those same points in about 10 minutes, not 90.I watch a documentary to be educated and possibly entertained, this documentary didn't meet that criteria, so I am unable to recommend it to other viewers.

This film is as important, or maybe even more so, than any film you will see this year. While, most of us go to the theater to watch make-belief and whimsical movies, it's also nice once in a while to see films which touch us all as a human race. I see someone mentioned that this film is blatantly "one-sided" - well, it should be. Water is what we all need to LIVE, simple as that. When major corporations around the world start to get control of this natural resource: there is a problem. If a company can create a movie that can justify the other side of this issue, being the killing of young children through bad water in other places of the world then I'd love to see it. The movie was not "anti-capitalist" - it was "PRO-Human" and believe me, I'm no tree-hugger, in fact, I'm all business, all the time. But when business hurts innocent people...then there is a problem. This movie is about the growing issue of lack of water, an issue that will be growing in the next few years. A must see, in my humble opinion.

It's not very often that tears start rolling down my cheeks while watching a political documentary! Flow was that moving! A film full of both the very best and the very worst humanity has to offer.I'm an environmental activist and have been following global water issues for years. What makes Flow so absolutely wonderful is that it covers it all. It's like watching a prosecutor make an indictment: needless water contamination by some rather nasty chemicals, such as pesticides, herbicides and pharmaceuticals; harm caused by World Bank & IMF policies; gross abuses of human rights by smug transnational water corporations throughout the world, including the USA; harm caused by damming many of the world's largest rivers; preventable diseases and deaths caused by polluted water, such a cholera; hormonal changes in fish and amphibians.On the other hand you see some incredibly brave people stand up to these mind-boggling abuses of power. Even an extremely elderly disciple of Mahatma Gandhi teaches the next generation of activists how to be effective. Plenty of brilliant and appropriate, low-technology solutions are shown. It does not take huge transnational corporations to assure the delivery of safe drinking water, which is (pardon the pun) made crystal clear! Flow is one of the most outstanding documentaries I have had the privilege to watch in my entire life! My hat's off to all those who made this magnificent film possible!

I watched this at Bloor Cinema yesterday, luckily missing the TTC strike might I add, with my high school.The movie is obviously biased and it shows -- and that's not a bad thing. It takes a gritty, firsthand look into the atrocities many parts of the world face day in and day out, eventually juxtaposing our overconsumption.Maybe it was due to the director being there (in the theatre) and letting us know it took her four years to make, but the movie had heart. It faces the problems and also takes a look at solutions, finally ending with what people are doing on our own continent.It's a mixture of life over there and life on North America. It's real.I had a few problems with the pace and editing, along with a shot of a girl being pushed down (it was shown on screen twice, to my calculations) that felt taken out of context. The movie also felt slightly lacking, like the information wasn't totally delivered.It makes you want to feel like an expert without truly paying it's part of the bargain. But that's a minor gripe.This is definitely one of those movies that everyone should see.