IslandGuru Who payed the critics

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

amay-84850 This was wonderful to see, it seems like only environmentalists get to write documentaries and with a monopoly they can spin the facts any way they want to. This film showed the drilling and fracking process accurately. I was please to see they included the permitting process for a well (2-3 years they say, but I know of 5 year permitting delays on Federal lands). They also include the plight of farmers, often the only way a farmer can keep his land these days is if oil or gas are produced on the property. When I was born (in 1952) my family had 50 farmers, now there are none. Oil and gas would have helped them keep their farms. And the Soutners were shown to be lying, the stars of Gasland, that was priceless.

ujala-68382 I found this movie very informative. Also I have discussed this issue of horizontal fracking and they say there is no issue. Problems if any are isolated cases. Ranch owners in Kansas, Texas and Bakken all have made big money as they got millions of dollar to give permit to oil companies to drill for shale oil/gas. UI think folks in Delaware and NY are misguided. They are losing an opportunity to make big bucks. Also considering that today most Agricultural and farm products are not very profitable due to falling prices and due to Big AG and Big farm cutting their profits they would do well to allow drilling. They are losing an opportunity to make big bucks. Also considering that today most Agriculturla and farmproducts are not very profitable due to flling prices they would do well to alow drilling

A.N. Read about the filmmakers' political history before accepting this pseudo-documentary at face value. "Not Evil, Just Wrong" (2009) gives climate science the same general treatment, and "Mine Your Own Business" (2006) downplays the risks of mining and chemical effluent.FrackNation continues the same right-wing theme of "Man can do no harm to nature," often based on Creationist ideology and a willfully weak understanding of science. The glowing IMDb reviews for this propaganda piece make me suspect shills were sent to bump up its ratings.Some of the biggest flaws in this film are: A) the claim that fracking of this type has been around for many decades, ignoring the much newer addition of horizontal drilling and mystery chemicals, B) the notion that cement well casings will always be poured perfectly and maintain their integrity indefinitely (casing failures can exceed 6% early on), C) the lies about methane never being disturbed by fracking, as if it must already exist in the water table beforehand, D) the dismissal of physical impacts on the land and airborne fumes from wellheads, E) trivialization of massive water usage, with billions of gallons PERMANENTLY LOST from the fresh water supply via injection wells which are also prone to toxic leaks and sinkhole formation, plus poorly treated wastewater that ends up in ponds and rivers.The general tone of this pseudo-documentary is to sneer at environmentalism via the appeal of "heartland" folk who are often poorly educated science-deniers. Being "down to earth" doesn't make one a fracking expert, and money buys opinions when one's land becomes valuable. This film seems to have been made largely as an attack on "Gasland" (a partly biased film) but this one contains far more slick propaganda, for example never quite admitting that fracking DID contaminate water in Dimock PA and other towns. The sheer number of gas wells in progress assures more contamination via statistical odds.Fracking may not be 100% bad, but I'd rather err on the side of known risks than pretend it causes no harm. People who claim this film is "balanced" are being very devious.Look up search terms like "methane migration" and "wastewater disposal" in conjunction with fracking. Claiming that it's a benign process is akin to government assurances about "safe" radioactive fallout from old nuclear tests (note that fracking wells can also bring up radioactivity from deep in the earth). Concerns about fracking must not be marginalized for the sake of money and continued energy gluttony.

Arian Haari I found this to be an enjoyable and informative documentary. Anyone who has endured the lies and distortions of _Gasland_ should watch this as a corrective follow-up. I had feared that _FrackNation_ would be a dumb American TV-style film, but was pleased to find it kept the intelligence level pretty high and the pace was even. The film is very well photographed and edited, and the sound was clearly conveyed throughout (subtitles are used on some sections). Some documentaries are better heard without the visuals, as if they're radio documentaries - but in this one the visual are really integral.Personally I would have cut the short and weak speculative section (Delingpole through to Putin) on possible Russian money finding its way to anti- shale gas campaigners. Similarly the fleeting aside about the Chinese and their attempts to corner the market in rare-earth magnets for wind turbines. Maybe true, maybe not - but it sounds too conspiratorial, since no evidence is presented. I would have also cut the camerawoman being slightly wounded (by an art gallery guard who had wrenched her camera out of her hand) near the end of the film. I also found a little cheesy the slightly over-manipulative footage of happy kids near the end. These visual elements add little or nothing to the film's argument. But generally this is a fine debunking of the deeply misleading _Gasland_.