The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream

My review covered the documentary 'The End of Suburbia'. This documentary is about the end of the modern suburbs thanks to the end of cheap oil. It covers many different aspects of this topic. These topics are layout for the viewer to understand the issues. I want to begin the review with an analysis of quality of the film. The first topic is the about how suburbs come about. Then the next subject is the unfortunate fact about oil. Finally, the documentary talks about 'New Urbanism' as a way help ease the issue. I found the documentary to be very interesting.

I think the film is well produced and setup. It is highly organized with a chronological movement. The video does features abstract shots of television and particular the news with the interviewees talking over it. Various music tracks are used in the film. The music is used to make light of certain situation and a creepy soundtrack is used to express the direness of peak oil. The film is well shot in the best way a 'Talking Head' documentary can possible be. It features many interviews with several important people in the peak oil field. This includes Matthew Simmons, Richard Heinberg, Michael Ruppert, and James Howard Kunstler. Their interviews are cut throughout the documentary. They seem very 'Dooms Day' oriented. All of their predictions are apocalyptic in nature and I can clearly see their negative ideology. The film kept my interest with its content and pace.

The first topic is the about how the suburbs come about. According to the documentary suburbs came about because the city had a low quality of life and technology gave people a way out. First it was the train, then the street car, and followed by the automobile. The automobile has helped to bring about the suburban dream. The government and the auto companies worked to together to help make the car the new form of mass transit.

Then the next subject is the unfortunate fact about oil. The way we built the suburbs are entirely depend on cheap oil. Cheap oil is the blood in the veins of America. The movie provided several fun facts about oil like when oil was first discovered in Texas it was cheaper than drinking water. The unfortunate reality is that oil peaked in the 1970s and this was predicted by the geologist Dr. M. King Hubbert. He saw it coming and people ridiculed him. They said his predictions were a joke because that year oil production was at its highest. The people who doubted Hubbert's prediction were in the year of peak oil. This peak oil stuff is very scary and really sent shock waves down my spine. Finally, the documentary talks about 'New Urbanism' as a way to help ease the issue of peak oil. The 'New Urbanism' is a movement that started in the 80s and seeks to create more walkable cities setups. The ideas want to bring back the old style of planning, which the great American cities were built upon. The demand is actually higher for these areas. The documentary talks about a new development called Stapleton, which was developed along the lines of 'New Urbanism' and it sells at about 25% higher. People want a more walkable and neighborly place to live. I really liked how the documentary expressed the concept of 'New Urbanism'.

The End Of Suburbia (TEOS) is a very useful film. It's also important and provocative. There seems to be no middle ground with either the film or its main source of entertainment, the anti-sprawl Meister, James Howard Kunstler.

While I am not a big fan of the New Urbanism, my criticism of it is because of its small vision. In the case of New Urbanist Peter Calthorpe - another talking head - you finally hear what's somewhat obvious in and amongst the special added TEOS out-takes... Calthorpe just doesn't understand peak oil.

I've used this as a teaching tool in economics classes to get at the importance of land as a factor of production - a fact long diminished by Neoclassical Economics - and also as a vehicle for educating about: peak oil, our wastrel land use, global warming, our threatened food production, public transit our compromised future

Move over South Park! .... Made by Canadians from Toronto for $25,000 and released in May 2004, this video sold over 24,000 copies by October 2005. One major DVD rental vendor recently ordered almost 400 more copies.

The End Of Suburbia sales were actually climbing 1 1/2 years after its release and it has also been available on one of the major online video services since September 2005.

A sequel, Escape From Suburbia, is in the works with a possible release by August 2006.

A friend of mine works at an engineering company and has shown this to her office. She also holds a masters degree in energy efficient buildings (!).

This documentary focuses on energy issues, but there is so much more to counteracting suburbia (anti-social issues, global warming, etc).

I've read some negative reviews out there claiming there is a "junk science" to this documentary, but these reviewers do not provide any of their own "science" to back up their claims. Where is their documentary, "The Bottomless Well"? It's just as Kunstler says in the interviews - people will be very resistant to the idea suburbia will end. People tend to get hostile when their whole lifestyle has been put into question, and The End of Suburbia does that with efficiency and style.

Intead of changing lifestyles, many suburb dwellers will simply force the status-quo, and become very hostile to those like EOS blowing the whistle. Sad.

I always knew the day was coming. We all knew. There's only so much oil in the ground, and one day we'll run short. But isn't there supposed to be enough coal to use instead? And wind power, or something. Things for future generations to worry about.

Then this documentary hit me smack between the eyes. Oil makes the fertilizer that is the reason for the first time in world history practically no one lives on farms. When the inevitable oil shortages hit, a lot of things -- air travel, many drugs, plastics, life in the suburbs -- will become impossible. But the craziest insight from the documentary is this: oil gives us so much energy with so little effort, that without it our lives must change. Even if substitutes and conservation are implemented immediately, at best they'll smooth our landing into a strange post-oil world which (the documentary claims) could be starting NOW.

Despite its gloomy message, the documentary is often highly entertaining. It contains fabulous historical footage (sober images of dark urban factories, and campy funny stuff from the 1950's) which reminds us of why we moved to the suburbs in the first place. It also offers hope that a massive effort started now could both ease our transition from oil and make the world a better place.

My only complaint about the documentary is that it does not spend time on the mystery of why we are finding this stuff out now. How can this be a big emergency all of a sudden? We knew in the 1970s we should be preparing for a post-oil world -- and we started to prepare with alternative energy research and smaller cars. If our failure to follow through on President Jimmy Carter's initiatives 25 years ago has doomed us to a hard landing in a post-oil world, why was no one shouting about it on soapboxes?

In the end I found the documentary highly persuasive; and it left me with the terrible chill of being dragged out of a very lovely dream. This is must viewing for everyone not afraid to face a very likely near future that we still have time to do something about.

• Charles

I own a Video store with hundreds of documentaries. I have seen loads of them and love all of the great info out there. Only a small handful though even come close to offering info as important as this one. I have been reading through other peoples reviews of this film and can't help but notice that the main things people are criticizing are irrelevant. Such as "It is very one sided" Such a pathetic criticism, every where in society that you look you will see the other side, and if you still need help go to globalpublicmedia.com. "It is the same people over and over" Uh one might be led to believe that these people are the experts, so maybe they are the best people to interview. "filming style is all the same, head shots with few exceptions" If you want flash and dazzle watch Micheal Moore if you want info watch real docs such as this one. As you can plainly see none of these complaints have any relevance to the information contained. My guess is that these people are just missing the point and don't wanna give up there SUV's.

My recommendation: Watch it. Learn from it, and continue your education about such subjects. It is very important stuff for EVERYONE.