VIFF ‘07: Climate for Change: Über Wasser/About Water

This almost meditative Austrian doc shows the extremes that climate change has already inflicted on us. Beautifully shot and incredibly insightful.

Starting in Bangladesh, this film shows rich, arable land drowning and literally being washed away, while one of the densest populations on earth display their creativity and fortitude (and expend an enormous amount of human energy) in literally moving their homes when the water continues to rise. One camping experience with a rising tide was bad enough; I can’t begin to imagine the stress of living like that everyday with millions of others!

The next stop is Kazakhstan where we see giant Russian freighters in the middle of a desert! The Aral Sea gave thousands of people a beautiful home, abundant food and lots of work. However, irrigating the surrounding desert simply dried up 75% of the water and shrank the sea’s area by half; now, just like it is predicted with global climate change, a vicious cycle continues to evaporate the Aral Sea faster than it can sustain itself. The former Soviet propaganda films which explain how this all happened could have been produced by the same companies that made those American “news” reels shown in our theatres in the 50s.

Lastly, we visit Kibera, home of half of Nairobi’s population in an unplanned and horribly serviced “slum.” Here, water is the key to easy money for a chosen few, as well over a million people line up and walk for hours to buy barrel after barrel of water for all their everyday needs from only 15 official water taps. The film shows the extreme hardship of constantly transporting water through an ever changing street scape and ends with a stat that exemplifies the reality of the economic poor around the world: we pay more while the rich have much, much more.

Screenings:
Thursday, Sept 27 @ 12:15pm: Empire Granville 7 Theatre 6
Thursday, Oct 4, @ 12:15pm: Empire Granville 7 Theatre 6
Thursday, Oct 11, @ 6:40pm: Empire Granville 7 Theatre 3