Hayleigh Joseph
This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
bearblackhawk22
Preserving the environment is one thing. Admirable. But as usual the national geographic channel glamorizes and ostensibly promotes vandalism of property and environmental extremism. Putting forth the notion that regression or devolution is a better place to be when It's not. In fact their own blindness to the resilience of the earth is amazing. Acknowledging the truth that in the pantheon of all time, Mans impact on the earth is no more than that of the dinosaurs. In a million years from now the earth will have moved on as it did with those same dinosaurs.Enough propaganda already.
Jordan Staub
Excellent documentary. From the beginning of this film, the history and juxtaposition of MAN vs. Nature is present. The cinematography and the use if imagery by the videographer is impeccable and bold. The narration is wonderful and the interviews are actually very well done and humorous. The non-censored and comical yet serious nature of the narration really gives the film the added push, thanks to Ben Knight, director.The film generates awareness and also captures these brilliant yet detrimental accomplishments of man; and goes to show the areas affected by this phenomenon. The takeaway message is: "take away the dams that are not useful". Find me someone that disagree's with this statement and i'll show you an individual that has not seen this film.
spanatko
the movie is great in how it's made, and in how it looks, I give you guys credit for that. But there is so much that Ben "your narrator" simply does not know, or does not speak about to his audience. Let me give you an example - showing wind-turbines and promoting these as an alternative to hydro-power might seem like a great idea - but in fact it is not, and it ruins the movie for any educated viewer. Here's why. Energy production is not that simple, you can not simply take one energy source out from the grid, and simply replace it with another one, as these operate in layers and each layer relies on the preceding layer of technology - both historically & because of the physics involved. Energy produced by kinetic energy from flowing water is the basis for all other energy producing technology - it is a crucial technology for all other technologies involved in energy production within the grid. First of all hydro-power provides the fastest energy source in the grid - we are talking about minutes required to start/stop a turbine, produce and deliver hydro-power generated energy anywhere within the grid when required and necessary. And you cannot do this using any other energy source. If there is an outage somewhere in the grid - hydro-power turbines are started and energy is delivered. And this happens a lot, everywhere due to various reasons. Take nuclear, coal, gas, syngas anything - the cycles required for start, generation, and delivery are weeks, in some cases even months. Because hydro-power is the fastest in the grid, it balances all disparities in the grid, and the whole system /other technology/ totally relies on it all the time. Hydro-power is fast and reliable, because you can anticipate, calculate and manage the energy production by altering the water flow. You can not do that with wind, nor solar energy - as you cannot simply control winds, or sunshine. That is the reason why hydro-power is used worldwide as a basis for all green energy - it's because it provides the balance between manageable energy sources, and the one's that are totally adhoc such as wind or solar. Long story short - thanks to hydro-power generation units in the grid, the grid has become flexible enough to being able to welcome unreliable energy producing technology. There would not be any wind or solar energy without hydro-power, as the only technology fast and reliable enough to step in when imbalances occur within the grid - is hydro-power. If hydro-power is taken out of the grid, the other energy sources lose the flexibility to employ wind & solar systems. Factories and businesses around the world are buying & paying for stable & reliable energy - not for unreliable power when the sun is shining or when the wind is blowing. Hydro-power compensates for all grid imbalances worldwide, and this is why I think that Ben needs to do a bit more research. I totally agree with the concept of proposing hydro-electric dams and power-plants with regard to the environment, passageways for fish etc. and this is happening, and I am grateful for that & totally welcome it. But revolting against the big energy producing machine targeting the least harmful technology in use today is preposterous. The next big problem I have with this film is that, however unsettling it might be to see how dams invade the ecosystem, it is still less damaging than nuclear, coal, gas, even solar or any other energy producing technology widely used today. For the interested viewer I strongly advise on studying the physics behind energy production, learning about all the technologies in use today. There is a reason why all areas regarded as ecologic hot-spots of this earth employ and rely solely and fully on hydro-power. I'm sorry for Ben but he is literally trying to bite his only allies in the world of energy production. It almost seems to me as if he is on a payroll of big coal & big nuclear. Question everything right?
dhash77
I was really surprised that I enjoyed this documentary so much. The information about our nation's abundance of damns, and the negative environmental impact they have had on the landscape and the indigenous wildlife was shocking to hear and see. Perhaps in the world of environmentalists this is common knowledge, but for a person not entrenched in the cause, like me, it was a compelling argument to learn more about the subject and to get more involved. The cinematography is a highlight of the film, and the information is delivered in a manner that kept me interested the whole time. This is definitely a film worth checking out.
