Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008) User Reviews

total immersion course in fresh water

[drxyzzy · 9/10 · 11 November 2008]

Blue Gold tells us that Earth's supplies of fresh water are limited, and we are using them faster than they can be replenished.

The film is loaded with information on many themes:

• water overuse, transformation of living land into deserts, pollution

• privatization vs. the public good

• escalating conflict over access to water

• work toward solutions by activists, organizers, and scientists

Water issues are complicated. This film explains with memorable images, compelling human stories, and Malcom McDowell's lucid narration. Vital issues of our times - war and peace, climate change, energy sustainability, healing the environment - have deep connections to how we get our water. Blue Gold will make you eager to learn more and get involved.

Well crafted eye opener on world water politics and practices

[lhharris · 9/10 · 12 November 2008]

I saw this film at the Vancouver International Film Festival and got quite drawn into the subject matter. The film clearly outlines the politics of water distribution and the problems that are developing. I had thought before watching this film that we had a ban on the commercial export of water in Canada... If you think that too you should consider watching this film and making up your own mind about these issues. I was also surprised at how global the management of water resources was and how few large companies are bidding to manager my access to clean water.

Well worth watching if you have ever wondered why bottled water cost so much or have any concerns about what happens when access to water becomes a commercial and political concern.

Blue Gold World Water Wars at Baguio

[naason_velasco · 8/10 · 15 March 2009]

I am the President of Air & Waste Management Association - Saint Louis University Student Chapter which hosted the film viewing of Blue Gold: World Water Wars on February 20, 2009 at the Saint Louis University's Center for Culture and the Arts here in Baguio City, Philippines. Many topics were raised in this film. The most interesting and most intriguing one is the privatization of fresh waters. Long had been gone since water became a commodity. Many people may not realize that we PAY for water. This film presented why we pay for a thing that is very abundant in our planet and whose hands these payments are going to.

For sure, after you watch this film you will think of water in a very different way. Never thought why BLUE GOLD?It's costly...

The Real Life "Quantum of Solace"

[gracieg96 · 10/10 · 1 April 2009]

We can't live without water. You may have thought it was a human right. But certain corporations have been plotting to control the water supply on this planet for a while now, and have been moving into place around the globe. Now the World Bank has required certain governments to privatize their precious water supply -- make it a corporate commodity answerable only to stockholders -- as a condition to getting a loan. In some places it is now illegal to catch rainwater, because rain is being considered private property, including the United States. The evil of this worldwide corporate grab for control of your most precious resource is practically inconceivable, but it is happening. Blue Gold: World Water Wars is a landmark documentary that every school, library and church should own and show. Do you want the cost of your water to be controlled by private corporations and stockholders only interested in their bottom line? Do you want to give up your right to the water around you, including rain? It is time to get educated and get active. Start with this film.

The Most Important Movie You'll Ever See

[dallasbancroft · 10/10 · 7 April 2009]

I had the privilege of seeing this film and I was blown away. The subject matter is of grave importance--water is life, without it life can't exist. This film maker knows how to tell a story and make what could be a dry story (no pun intended) into a compelling and motivating one. Malcolm McDowell is also to be commended. His voice lends credence to any subject but water or the lack thereof is a scary one and will have to be confronted sooner or later. I hope later, but after you see this film, you're not so convinced that the future isn't here already. Highly recommended and even more, I think it should be shown in every school in America, if not the world. Bravo Mr. Bozzo.

Fantastic and Highly Recommended

[Frumpyboo · 10/10 · 9 October 2009]

This is a brilliant documentation which reminds us of how valuable a commodity water is and how easily the western world takes it unwittingly for granted. The information contained in the video is detailed and very well presented. Some of the contents was scary especially the political side of this resource which quite frankly should be non-existent. Water is life and everyone on the face of this planet should have access to it. I believe this movie would do well in schools worldwide. More awareness needs to be made of our dwindling resource and also the exposure of how corporate giants and private collectives are trying to control and profiteer from an essential commodity. I would encourage everyone to purchase this movie in show of support for Sam Bozzo's excellent presentation. I'll definitely be looking out for more work from Bozzo in the future. 10/10!

Excellent Documentary

[imdb-19144 · 10/10 · 26 November 2010]

Eye opening look into the global water crisis and it's causes.

Learn important facts about the World Bank and U.N.

Learn why bottled water and agriculture is bad for our Earth's ecology.

Learn about the theft of water by profiteering corporations aided by corrupt governments.

It gives hope at the end for solving one of the biggest problems we will face in the very near future.

How ironic that we can do something so simple as digging holes in the ground to replenish our aquifers.

Everyone should see this movie!

To the last gasp

[robert-temple-1 · 10/10 · 5 April 2011]

This documentary and another made the following year on another aspect of the same subject by different people, TAPPED (2009, see my review), are both highly pertinent to the question of whether the human species will continue to exist or not. Public ignorance of the most crucial matters affecting our future as a species is truly remarkable. Nowadays people can no longer agree about carbon emissions, but one thing which should be agreed by everyone with any argument at all is that the future of the fresh water supply for the world is greatly endangered, and if we don't begin to focus on that problem without further delay, future generations will all die, and humanity will become extinct, along with most animal and plant species as well. Are we really so lazy that we do not care? Sometimes it seems that way. Otherwise, why are films like this not better known? The two films should be shown in all schools, they should be shown by all parents to their children, they should be on television, and above all, they should be shoved down the throats of all the idiot politicians who are doing nothing to save the human species, being too busy with stuffing their pockets with cash from corrupt sources in return for selling off public water to corporate buyers. This film attacks the 'sale' of the water (including even sometimes the rainwater!!) of some cities, counties, and even entire countries to corporate interests. Just imagine the bribes which have been paid to pull off such scams! And meanwhile the world's drinking water is running out. Although 75% of the earth's surface is covered with water, this film says only 3% of it is drinkable (and TAPPED says that only 1% of it is drinkable). And much of that is now heavily polluted. Large areas of the planet are going dry at an alarming rate, and 'water wars' are looming, while water riots have already begun in earnest. We are in a crisis of survival, but none of the governments in the world are taking robust action, whereas the international agencies are often the entities which are the most dangerous and corrupt, as they are entirely unaccountable to anyone, so they can take as many bribes as they like and no one will do anything about it, whereas at least some of the world's governments have to answer to their voters (assuming the voters are not kept in ignorance, which films like this are trying to prevent). This film begins with a harrowing description of what it is like to die of thirst, something we may before long all be able to experience for ourselves. This film is written, narrated and directed by an enthusiastic idealist named Sam Bozzo, who has done a very good job on a small budget. (TAPPED had a much bigger budget and higher production values.) It is based on a book by two other idealistic activists, Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, who both also appear in the film. These people are all to be enthusiastically congratulated for their tireless work in attempting to alert the public to the dangers of human extinction due to the failure of our worldwide fresh water supplies. As Ford Madox Ford said in the February, 1924, issue of The Transatlantic Review, of which he was editor: 'That one should stand by and observe without a note of warning the sure shadow of doom engulfing a civilisation would be to display an equanimity passing the power of most men.'

Interesting views on a issue that will affect everyone

[horatius_u · 3 December 2012]

I chose this movie to review for one of my college classes, "Sustainability and the Future; Seven Revolutions." As a nontraditional student who is retired from the military, I am very cautious of what environmentalists say. As a child of the 70's I remember being taught in school that the next big Ice Age was coming do to global cooling, so skepticism was the rule for me initially when watching this film. The noticeable left leaning tone of the movie initially almost forced me to change my mind on continuing with this project. In the end I chose to at least finish watching the film before making my final decision. That choice was a good one in my opinion now that I have finished watching the film. The film brings into perspective the tie-in of world politics, multinational corporations, local-national economies, and water.

The bottle water industry has always been a mystery to me as to why it took off in inside the United States. Overseas where there is limited or no infrastructure for providing easy access to potable water it is understandable. The convenience of being able to get a chilled bottle of water really isn't worth the cost to me. Personally I drink too much water throughout my day to be able to afford the luxury of buying my water that way! The advertising that makes it appear that bottled water is in some way healthier than the tap is crazy. In some areas the bottled water is just tap water that has been packaged and sold at a much higher price than the regular tap water.

The one area that absolutely leaves me scratching my head is the privatization of water supplies. The World Bank actually forcing a country to privatize its water to get help? How is it possible that this can be seen as a good thing? I have traveled extensively in Africa, Southwest and Southeast Asia; it never dawned on me the extent of how closed the water markets are in some of these areas. Now looking back the film brought up the pricing of water and coke in African nations. That is so true, I did see it and didn't realize at the time what it meant to the locals. I could not fathom living in a country that subsisted in that manner.

In my own country I never would have thought that it was a good idea to sell the water rights to a multinational corporation. Major cities have done just that, and what has it cost the citizen of those cities in rate hikes, sub-par service and other factors. We as citizens of the United States need to wake up and see that we are cutting our own throats in some aspects by allowing Politicians and Business CEOs to make life altering choices with the essential things we need to sustain life as we know it without even a vote on the matter. We also need to hold United States Corporations to higher standard when they operate in other countries around the world as they are part of the problems highlighted in this film. Yes, Coke; I am talking about you!

Overall I will give this film an 8 out of 10. As it is a older film a lot of the information is still relevant and most people are not aware of what we are doing to our country or the world with the everyday actions we take in living our lives. I watched Tapped after this and might even do a review of it later on.

Thank You for reading my review!

Outlandish misrepresentation of facts

[hharman · 2/10 · 14 April 2011]

Pollution of our fresh water supplies and water rights are extremely important subjects and need to be presented factually and honestly in order to maintain credibility. The subjects are too important to be confused with misrepresentation, misleading, and inflammatory commentary designed to arouse public opinion, and establish the film makers as experts and crusaders in a cause which I have been a part of for more than 35 years.

I am a professional environmental engineer working within the Potable Water Industry for my entire life. I have never seen such misrepresentations mixed with just enough true facts for the expressed purpose of attempting to make the entire movie believable. This should be listed as "fiction" not a documentary.

Talk about conspiracy theorists. This movie ranks up there with those that think the Moon Landing was faked, your neighbor is a space alien, or that Elvis is still alive and living with Marilyn Monroe in Queens.

This is 90-minutes of my life I wish I could get back.

BLUE GOLD FILM Screened 19-March-2009 Cavite Economic Zone Cavite Philippines

[power_nm · 10/10 · 19 March 2009]

This film Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)serves as a caution for all of us, it's the time to conserve our water in our daily lives. We need to fight to our right to water. To the Philippine Government its a wake-up call to create laws or to strictly implement our existing laws concerning water conservation. We need to find ways to re-build the sources of water. This film shown the importance of waters, its limited. So lets start to share this thing to our family, to our friends, to all the people around us.

To those who make this film, we thanked you, we learned a lot. We are here to support your mission.

Blue Gold: Water Wars

[cdesalvo-3 · 9/10 · 30 April 2012]

Very good documentary describing the privatization of water and the things we can do to prevent the Earth from being sucked of it's most important natural resource.

The film gives a good view from describing the crisis, how politics, governments and businesses fit in & the solutions to making sure everyone gets the water they need to survive and that we have enough for the human race to thrive. The film also does a great job of showing the greed that drives some companies and groups to rid the most important life source from other humans. It gives an eerie description that to some, money means more than the essence of human life itself.

This is a very good documentary that can't be explained in a few words and everyone needs to watch it!!

I am shocked! Terrific insight into the world's future (and present) wars about WATER.

[imseeg · 9/10 · 12 November 2019]

I am truly shocked after seeing this documentary. I had seen it before, but after seeing it a second time (years later) it still hammers down an inconvenient truth about the destructive ways all our precious water resources are being bought up right now by corporations for merely profit, while simultaneously causing massive destruction to the global water supply. Corporational greed for wanting to make a profit of privatising public water wells in the end will destroy the basis of a healthy existence on this earth for human life. That's the shocking message of this insightful documentary.

More simpy put: We are running out of water. And the cause is the greed of corporations. There is a healthy solution though. Fortunately! Nationalise the water. The opposite (privatisation) is happening right now...

This documentary is shocking, but it is hopeful as well. Because the solutions for preserving our small amount of global drinking water is quite simple. But there needs to be public awareness and protest first to achieve these simple solutions, which will protect our water for ANYONE on this earth...rich or poor...

A Very well collected and presented insight into the tragedy that we all face at one point or another

[henrysadler-58146 · 9/10 · 9 December 2021]

I would highly recommend this documentary for anyone who wants to learn more about the subject of water crises throughout the world both in the past, present and future. Starting with the fact that every living thing on earth needs some form of water, we gain the instant importance of this resource and its necessity as a human right. As the documentary continues we see how water sources world wide have been the subject of wars, corruption, corporate greed, political turmoil, and destruction. Entire bodies of water are no longer fit for human consumption or habitable by organisms that once called it home. Much of the world does not have access or rights to clean water due to corporations buying rights to uncontrolled use of the water, stealing from those who had access once. There is a silver lining as many examples have been made by the global public on the basis of water rights and organized protest making light of the greed and having effects on a political scale. Overall an incredible documentary that is still relevant 13 years later, if not more.

Mediocre

[diomavro · 5/10 · 12 September 2013]

These people seem to have no real understanding of market mechanisms or of personal responsibility. The moment they said that we have an energy shortage already and because of this desalination is not an option, I started rolling my eyes. It goes to show that people who have no understanding of economics should stay away from policy work, because they only screw things up. Of course there are problems with the private companies but this film totally fails to capture the true cores of the problems which have to do with excessive ownership rights, rent seeking and political power.

Like usual laymen will love this movie but there's a reason most academics will dismiss it. Just to be clear, there are some valid inventions being talked about though perhaps not market ready yet its just that the these people fail to grasp the concept of adding bottom lines to market mechanisms, such as pigovian taxes, which is likely to be one of the few intelligent solutions and perhaps the most efficient.

Whose water is it anyway?

[Goingbegging · 5/10 · 10 June 2018]

Water is the new oil, apparently - a vital commodity, in dwindling supply, controlled by corporate business, so tightly that the people of Bolivia were recently threatened with jail for collecting rainwater. Until the government drove out the big bad barons, that is.

If you're wanting a pantomime version of our global ecosystem, this is the one, every cliché firmly in place. It starts in the first seconds, with a stock image of parched and cracked soil, a slow dripping-sound, and Malcolm McDowell announcing that "whoever goes without water for a week cries blood." To give him his due, McDowell has matured into quite a good voiceover artist, almost mistakeable for Richard Burton. But this does not make the message any more credible.

It is basically that water is a human right, that should be administered by 'the people' or the United Nations, and not the ruthless, corrupt private sector. We are encouraged to feel that water belongs to everyone, rather like the Native Americans who couldn't get their mind round the ownership of land. We hear the startling claim that corporate business is 'not subject to clear-cut performance requirements', which is, of course, the standard weakness of the public sector and the charities, providing all manner of temptations when money is left lying around.

If, like myself, you are liable to develop hydrology fatigue, you can assess the main arguments quite effectively by just sizing-up the human types you're looking at, like bored constituents at an election rally. Every professional hippie-rebel is here, with their standard cries, of which "We the people must become the water guardians of the 21st century" is entirely typical.

The solutions, when they arrive near the end, are just too irritatingly naïve. Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth... Don't have a lawn... This is kindergarden-logic, as though the whole world is a well-run classroom. But then comes a surprise. The small town of Bolinas, California, has had a true brainwave. No new houses to be built, no more population to be encouraged, beyond the capacity of the water-supply. At long last, a breath of common-sense. Rights carry responsibilities. Instead of demanding clean water as a human right, you go to where the water is clean, if you want to raise a family. But alas, Bolinas is depressingly alone in its wisdom, a strange recluse-village that can only be reached by unmarked roads, and dismissed as yet another kookie Californian experiment.