Blue Gold

I did not know much about water privatization before I watched this film. This documentary makes the audience know how severe water privatization is by using some examples of corporations who are actually privatizing water. According to Blue Gold, some big corporations such as Suez, Veolia, and RWE have tried to privatize water sources. They construct water infrastructures for poor nations, but after they build the system, they require more money to use that water. More shocking is that Coca-Cola also had a big influence on access to water in Mexico. They made Coke much cheaper than pet bottled water, and this made people buy more Coca-Cola products. These actual examples effectively inform the audience about the problem of water privatization.

However, because this documentary explains the relation between water and complex politics through interviews with professionals and scholars, it fails to capture the interest that other water documentaries like Flow do. In Blue Gold, the view of local people is overshadowed by the expert’s view. Even though expert opinion might offer stronger support when the narrators explain political conflicts surrounding water, overall, this documentary lacks warmth and seems to be rigid and even boring.

Nevertheless, Blue Gold is still a good documentary because it smoothly connects diverse themes related to water including the history of water problems, water privatization issues, the unbalanced water supply, and even what individuals need to do to save water. Thus, I recommend watching this film in order to learn more about water issues.