Review of DamNation (2014) by Anne C — 18 Apr 2015
If Dam Nation feels scattered or like it is preaching to the choir, then perhaps you should spend more time near rivers. Or on a fishing boat, or on the Upper Snake River and watch one of the few, last ragged salmon that's made it past all 4 Lower Snake River dams return to spawn there.
As a 6th generation Washingtonian, I feel this movie touches down solidly on the narrative surrounding the environmental devastation that dams have brought to our locale. We have 81 orca whales left in the Salish sea.
What do orca whales eat? Most remaining wild salmon runs will be extinct by the end of our children's lifetimes, if not already. If you are unable to process the message of this film, and instead critique the stylistic attributes, or feel it is one sided, you are missing the boat, and you are going to miss it for eternity.
And your children as well. There is nothing left to do but remove outdated dams. Outdated, not all. I've watched this movie 3 times. The first 2, I was stone cold sober, and found the film's flow solid and charged, informative and straightforward.
Only the 3rd time, sharing it with my mother, after several glasses of wine, did I find it slightly disjointed. So, maybe drink less liquor, and think in geological terms, cultural terms, beyond this century terms.
Maybe, open your eyes to the fact that salmon are real, but not for long. Maybe, if you can imagine that we need salmon, you'll be able to cry a tear or two at what's been lost. My mother, by the way, is a lifelong resident of Washington too.
Grew up as the daughter of conservative wheat farmers along the Snake River near Lewiston. She now lives near Seattle and fishes for salmon in Puget Sound every year. This film opened her eyes to the reality of the rivers she loves and the resources at stake, because, believe me, there is no need to worry about the other side of this story.
It's all we have heard, and it's gotten us nowhere. If you don't like the movie, sorry. Maybe you just don't care enough about salmon.
This review of DamNation (2014) was written by Anne C on 18 Apr 2015.
DamNation has generally received positive reviews.
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