Oil Storm

A well done disaster film that holds your attention because it has something important to say, namely that we are are long past the time when we should be looking for alternatives for oil. The film suggests that if we don't prepare for the end of the oil era, any number of miss-steps by ourselves or nature could suddenly and unexpectedly ruin our economy as well as result in thousands of casualties among our troops as well as civilians. Not a message I would have expected from the Fox channel ! It was good to see them explore the possibilities in a persuasive documentary - like format. The arguments are similar to those documented in the recent non-fiction book "Blood and Oil" by Michael T.Klare.

"Oil Storm" is the latest made-for-TV movie to use what is rapidly becoming a tiresome technique: a faux-documentary retrospective that details the events that led up to a disaster.

The story opens in the near future, Labor Day weekend of this year, and describes a chain reaction that leads to global economic turmoil. Drawing from a collection of worst-case scenarios, the film portrays an America in chaos after the oil supply chain is disrupted. Political efforts to alleviate the problems caused by the oil shortfall predictably fail, and the result is a crisis that makes Americans (at least the ones portrayed in the film) question their reliance on oil.

While some may portray the film as anti-Bush, it feels more anti-oil, anti-conspicuous consumption. Political actions in the movie are framed within the context of the current behavior of many of the major global political players - US, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia - and generally might not be too far off the mark.

The contingency planning and consideration of viable alternatives is simplistic, but thankfully, the writers at least avoid the "Mexico closes the border" cliché. In short, the film is about as interesting as watching a tanker spill cleanup.

This was an interesting presentation and makes you think about some things. And that's probably what will scare pro-Bush "values voters", having to think about these issues. For them, they'll immediately dismiss it as propaganda, switch back to FOX "News" Channel and stick their heads back in the sand.

For a TV disaster film with a lot of potential to be bad (see the cheese pile known as "10.5"), it is very well done, especially the writing. Cutting together real footage and fictional interviews & staged "events", "Oil Storm" is deeply engaging and VERY believable. Despite the constant reminders that it is a work of fiction, you often feel you're watching a real documentary.

The actors play a huge role in selling it too because without their low-key and subtle performances, it wouldn't have worked. We've all seen fake documentaries where the actors are so bad, the lines so stilted and nail-on-the-head, you know you're watching a fake. With the exception of the teenage son, the entire cast connect with you like real people facing historic crisis.

Also, the narrator plays a valuable role in selling "Oil Storm" as real. His voice is familiar (History Channel, if I remember correctly) and credible in the documentary format. He does a quality job taking you through the series of events set in the future, as though they happened a few years ago.

Most of all, this film presents the harsh reality of just how interdependent and fragile our economy is. For every scenario the film presents, I'd find myself saying, "Well, then I'd just do this...", only to find out oil has an effect on aspects of our lives we never would have imagined. Life becomes more complicated than "I'll just take a bike to work!" While the catalyst events portrayed in "Oil Storm" are fictional and arguably a little unrealistic, there are a number of situations which could throw us into the bottom line - a massive oil shortage. The film is effective in making a strong case for moving the country away from our dependency on foreign oil.

A lot of "disaster" movies start with a relatively improbable event, the effect of which is worsened by a sequence of equally improbable actions or reactions. "Oil Storm" actually portrays an accident which is just waiting to happen. A major hurricane (happened before with Ivan in the same area LAST YEAR (not to mention 1900 in Galveston)) has a catastrophic effect on a refinery (happened, to a much lesser extent admittedly, in Louisiana THIS YEAR) which then has a cascading effect on a grossly overloaded supply system. The presentation is an extremely well executed patchwork of real footage hijacked for the film's story and some acting to add the "human interest" side of a typical documentary. If there is a weak point in the movie, it's that it is too optimistic both in it's portrayal of the USA's ability to react to this kind of problem, and also the sugary ending (Oof ! We dodged another bullet there !). But that's maybe all the average viewer can take at the moment (Wait for other movies of this genre next year when gas is already at $3+ !)

I have no idea how probable it is for a hurricane or terrorists to seriously cut off our oil supply, but I do know that most of the leading respected experts (oil and petroleum geologists) in the world today agree on a phenomenon called "Peak Oil". This phenomenon when explained to many people flies right over their heads although it is a fairly simple thing to grasp once you take a little time to do some research. Basically over the past 50-100 years we have exploded our population numbers on the reliance of cheap plentiful energy in the form of hydrocarbons. Over those past 50 years our need for oil has increased dramatically in order to continue business as usual for 6 billion people - that is, we have had to increase the rate at which we extract it from the ground. The Peak Oil concept states that we have reached the peak with which we can extract the oil and from now on we will be in continual decline. This means less and less oil available for a world demanding more and more each and every day. This means our entire industrialized society comes crumbling down as just about everything we buy and consume on a daily basis is dependent on that oil. Imagine for a moment what it would be like if gas costs $10 a gallon and you have to drive 20 miles to get to one of the few remaining gas stations still open for business. Imagine a loaf of bread costing $8 - imagine now that you are laid off work or your wages have been cut by 50% because your company can barely stay in business.

What would you do? How would you take care of your family?

Most people will react to these statements lightly or call them preposterous propaganda touted by liberal mother-earth fruitcakes - but I urge you to ask yourself what you base these assumptions on? How much do you really know about these issues? How much research have you really done? No amount of skepticism will keep this from happening. It WILL happen. The science is clear. The question is, how many people will embrace this information and make changes in order to ease the transition and how many will ignore it and continue on as usual? $50 a barrel for oil and the gas price increase we have seen this year are only the beginning. The Bush energy policy for Nuclear power and other needed programs is just the beginning. Being reliant on foreign oil is not the problem - being reliant on oil PERIOD is the problem. America makes up only 5% of the worlds population and yet consumes 25% of its hydrocarbon energy. Now who do you think will be hit the hardest when supplies begin to dwindle? If there was ever a time to become Amish, now is it!

We live in a country of celebrity worship, fast food, TV addiction and car fanaticism. Americans consume so much energy that the mere concept of energy is foreign to most of us. It's all we know. We have never seen what happens when things really start to go wrong. I recommend that you NOT take my word for it - just go to google and enter the words "Peak Oil" or "Oil Crisis" and start reading. I also highly recommend seeing a documentary film called "The End of Suburbia - Oil depletion and the collapse of the American Dream" - endofsuburbia dot com

This movie Oil Storm can easily be dismissed as sensationalism and I agree that much of it may certainly be just that - I also believe that some of the things depicted may not be too far from a possible future truth too ugly for many to believe could possibly be true. Believe me, I would love to be wrong about this - I have even gone to great lengths to find opposing evidence about peak oil. I have yet to find any with any real credible reference or basis in fact. I will continue to do research on this and learn as much as I can - I can't recommend highly enough that you all do the same.