The Big Fix

Saw the movie last night and it was excellent. Provocative, well research, emotional and powerful. It is really shocking to see the level of deceit and corruption still going on in the gulf. We got to invest in alternative energies and let go of our destructive addiction to oil.

Even though I consider myself generally well informed, I was shocked to see pieces of information that have been kept secret to the public at large. And the film provides irrefutable proof. Sometimes the truth hurts. We got to face the truth otherwise the alternative will be even more disastrous.

Louisiana is not a state, it's an oil colony. That was one of the core messages of this film, and it's impossible to argue that it's not true after seeing and hearing the evidence.

The history lesson is gripping, the interviews with policy experts and politicians are amazingly informative. The interviews with Gulf residents are touching. The interviewees are all people I'd love to have as friends, and I felt saddened for what has happened to them and continues to happen to them.

The birds, fish and shrimp? They're dead, so their suffering is over, but the people who counted on the Gulf for their survival continue to watch in horror as the damage being done to the Gulf gets worse and the President has approved the issue of more deep water drilling permits.

I'd highly recommend this film to anyone, especially if they think they know what has happened, and continues to happen, in the Gulf.

When I viewed the synopsis of this film in my Netflix queue I was pleased to see that someone was looking at the events surrounding the man-made and totally preventable Deepwater Horizon oil rig tragedy perpetrated by BP in 2009 in the Gulf of Mexico. My anticipation was short-lived when I saw that the director of the film was Joshua Tickell. I was not a fan of Mr. Tickell's previous energy-centric film, Fuel. But, rather than rehash that mess, I suggest you read my review here on IMDb. If you sort the reviews by 'Hated It' you'll find it.

Overall, I am impressed with Mr. Tickell's effort with The Big Fix. It tells several stories. First and foremost, the lengths corporations will go to in order to maximize profit and minimize exposure when things go terribly wrong. The destruction of the Deepwater Horizon was avoidable yet BP broke numerous safety rules which allowed it to happen and then lied about everything related to the cleanup; that, to this day, is not complete. Tickell does an excellent job in laying out the case against BP and what they did to the entire region.

The film also tells a powerful story that we are hearing all too frequently about the connection between politics and big oil. The influence of lobbyists and the revolving door between high office and lobbying is a story that should be told often.

Mr. Tickell strays in a few areas. Minor but mildly irritating is in his completely unnecessary time-killing narrative on Huey Long. It was pointless and didn't fit in at the beginning of the film. If he wanted to contrast Governor Long to Governor Jindal or any other Louisiana politician he opened that possibility up when he spoke of the true interests and ownership of modern day Louisiana politicians. But rhetoric about how Long was such a great guy wrapped around stories of Louisiana being treated like a colony just didn't fit.

Also, Mr. Trickell seemed pained to lump President Obama in with the collection of corrupt soulless individuals running the country today. He points out, correctly, all of the oil money received by various politicians, how evil the Koch brothers are and all the other Liberal talking points we have grown to expect. But, when it came to Obama he seemed to want to make Obama out to be a sympathetic character. As if Obama is trying to change the world but all these forces have plotted against him. No mention of the money Obama received from big oil and BP in particular. This could be because Mr. Tickell feels compelled to include Hollywood in his films and the brief appearance of Peter Fonda and Amy Smart satisfied that requirement in this film. Hollywood is still unable to speak with one voice against this President and at least from his films, Mr. Trickell is going along with the sentiment of that crowd.

Mr. Tickell is getting better as a story teller. He can be faulted for his political bias but it stayed mostly in check in this film; unlike "Fuel" which was painful to get past. In "The Big Fix," he picked an outstanding subject that more people need to be aware of. He does an excellent job imparting his perspective of the region. I recommend it and even with the few blemishes noted above, it is worth seeing a couple times.

Saw the preview of this film at LACC, and got to speak to the film makers. Very good experience in both watching the film and getting the opportunity to talk to the film makers. Moved me to want to learn more about alternative ways of energy. The film makers were very intelligent and encouraging. When watching a film like this my reaction was what can I do to make a difference, I'm just one person will my contribution even matter? Luckily this question was made to the film makers and they made a good point on how even the smallest thing like word of mouth can be a great contribution. Making people aware of what is happening can lead people to change or want to find out more information. Overall this film was well done, had lots of good information.

First off, how is it that the rating is only 3.4 stars when the majority of votes have been 9-10? Someone isn't doing math correctly...

But regardless, this film doesn't need to be rated. Because it's not about the awesome creative camera angles used, or the emotion-inducing tracklist, or the rawness exposed from start to finish. It's about getting information out to the public...and since the message was conveyed so clearly and chronologically, I think it served its purpose. It was also all of those other things mentioned. So I definitely give it a 10/10. In all seriousness, you need to watch this video.