Movie Review Friday: GasHole

Escape to the movies with one of our Movie Review Friday selections. Each week we review a film with an environmental theme. Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a short review and look for it in the next Movie Review Friday.

GasHole (2011)

Available on DVD

GasHole aims the camera at Big Oil in a big way, taking on the corrupt business practices that have led to high gas prices, inefficient vehicles, and political instability. Oil companies, it would seem, have a habit of buying and squelching patents for fuel-efficient vehicles. And they've stopped entire public-transit systems to keep up car demand. GasHole alleges that these corporations also raise prices and gouge consumers after tragedies like Hurricane Katrina.

If you already know how dysfunctional the global oil economy is, you  can skip this film, whose main merit is its willingness to ask the tough questions. When it comes to providing answers, though, the filmmakers bumble, jumping from bad graphics of Buicks getting 100 mpg to Joshua Jackson (does anyone even remember Dawson’s Creek?) praising his biodiesel SUV, without ever going into sufficient factual detail. 

The information that this film does present is heavily biased, which is unfortunate. We recommend it as a starting point: Get enraged, then learn more elsewhere.

--Christa Morris