I had seen FLOW several weeks ago and remember finding it interesting and powerful and am even more impressed after seeing it a second time. The film raises two basic and frightening issues. One is the corporate commodification of water resources. The other is the scarcity of resources.  The combination of these two factors could have devastating effects.

FLOW travels to various parts of the world–Bolivia, South Africa, India, the United States–to recount the various ways corporations are exploiting people and land in the pursuit of potable water. The film challenges our assumptions about the quality and sources of water, from reporting that there are more than 116,000 manmade chemicals in US tap water to discovering that a bottled water company dug a well on a superfund site to exploring how a Coca Cola plant dumped toxic waste near an Indian village.

The doom-and-gloom is tempered somewhat by stories of successful water gathering and purification done at a very local level. However, these successes seem modest at best in the wake of corporate malfeasance.

Although the globe trotting helps reveal the scope of the problem, it also make the film feel spread a little thin. It also could have benefited from some alternative viewpoints; however, it’s hard to imagine what could be said in the face of damning evidence. But these are minor complaints since watching FLOW is an excellent jumping off point for filling in these gaps.

I tend to shy away from saying any movie is a “must see” but considering all that is at stake, I’ll say it about this one. And if you don’t believe there’s anything at stake, read this.