Credit: TimeLife
"We have a serious problem - America is addicted to oil," said former President George W. Bush during a speech in 2006. Gas Hole: a crude conspiracy opens with quotes from U.S. presidents ranging from the 1970s up until Bush, all voicing the same concern with oil dependency. And yet today, oil prices are higher than ever and the planet is rapidly running out of 'black gold' - so why has nothing been done?
According to writers, producers and directors Jeremy Wagener and Scott D Roberts, it's because change could threaten the profits of the oil industry. "They're in the most profitable portion of their business right now," says actor Joshua Jacskon of our post peak-oil society.
Gas Hole is a frightening investigation into 'big oil' - its origins, its growth and the role it plays in U.S. society today. In light of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico I was fascinated to find out more about the industry that is polluting our environment while jacking up their prices. And the film is chilling. This is the first co-writing venture of Wagener and Roberts and it is superbly researched and put together with a strong sense of tension and credibility.
Gas Hole features interviews from a broad range of sources - mechanics, members of the U.S. congress (including a very ballsy and admirable Californian Democrat Anna Eshoo), top scientists, oil company executives and everyday citizens affected by price rises. Comments from experts paired with historical facts show the links between oil prices, disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and September 11, and the U.S. Government - and they're more disturbing than you would imagine.
While I began watching the film already aware that the oil industry was more interested in money than the environment or its consumers, I left feeling sick. According to Gas Hole, big oil has not only tried to ignore technological advances that could reduce our drain on the planet, but attempted to crush them.
The one consistent comment from every person interviewed in the documentary is, "You have to wonder why something hasn't been done before this." There are claims of technology invented in the 1950s that could have revolutionised modern cars and reduced our dependency on oil. There is evidence of patents of technology being bought up and then vanishing - and there are even mentions of mysterious deaths and threats against those trying to make vehicles more efficient.
While the film focuses more on the economic and political side of 'big oil', it also touches on the environmental damage that our dependency is causing and the need for alternative fuel sources.
One of the only faults for me personally is that Gas hole is centred on industry and government in the U.S. and it would be fascinating to see how this compares to the Australian industry. Regardless, this is a must see documentary - it will confirm your worst suspicions about big oil and greed and will reassure what most viewers suspect: we need change now.
