Review of Pump (2014) by Landon H — 25 Sep 2014

First of all, "Pump" looks great on the big screen. I saw it in L.A. recently. The directors scoured the earth for cool footage and incisive interviews with experts and real people, from as far away as Brazil and China. And they put all this footage together, covering some very complex issues, to form an extremely compelling, visually artistic film. This movie is in the league of the best docs from recent years, including "Blackfish" and "To the Arctic.".

"Pump" makes me feel like I've absorbed a textbook full of social issues without the exhaustion of doing homework. It's all in there -- how Standard Oil created a monopoly on the U.S. fuel system for vehicles; how that company and others colluded to get rid of affordable, clean electric cable cars and trains; how oil interests and our government could have moved toward concerted oil conservation after the 1970s oil crisis, but now we use more than ever.

The best thing about "Pump" is how it suggests practical alternatives. We don't have to just accept that our cars can only run oil-based petroleum, and we're at the mercy at whatever oil companies -- with their record-shattering profits -- want to charge. We can move toward production of alternative fuels using abundant resources we already have here in the U.S. Methanol can be made from all that trash sitting in landfills. Who knew?

Count me among the large numbers of people who didn't even know what, exactly, a flex-fuel car really is. I see them all the time, many of them pickups or SUVs driven by burly blue-collar guys or soccer moms in Orange County where I live. How many of them realize they could be putting ethanol in their tanks right now? Sure, there currently are a limited number of stations that offer it. But that's part of the point of the movie: We have to change the system if we want choice. There should be more stations that are able to offer ethanol, if only two-thirds of them weren't under the thumb of the big oil companies and refineries. Congress SHOULD give the Open Fuel Standard, requiring all new vehicles to be flex-fuel capable, a fighting chance.

"Pump" did more than just entertain me and educate me. It made me want to get involved and end the oil monopoly.

The longer we let the status quo stand, the longer we're going to be getting duped.