Last
Call At The Oasis
This isn't the movie you watch to feel good, hopeful and happy. You can
get tickets to see Marvel's The Avengers for action, glee, and
laughs. Last Call At The Oasis is the one that will scare you
into hoarding bottles of water in your basement for the upcoming
apocalypse (but I already beat you to Safeway and bought them out, so
you have to wait for the next shipment).
Writer/director Jessica Yu makes Last Call At The Oasis into
the kind of advocacy documentary that has been so popular in the last
few years, but we are left confused over which fight we need to fight,
even though it is a multifaceted problem that can and will affect all
of us.
Last Call At The Oasis is brought down a bit
by its own ambition, which leads to a lack of focus as Yu tries to
tackle every major issue regarding water on the planet. Each part of
the movie is compelling, and scares the living daylights out of you
when you think about it, but the parts don't fit together. Each section
should be its own movie instead of a portion of one overall film.
As we see the potential problems facing western US states, Yu makes a
compelling case about impeding drought as we consume more water than
the ecosystem can sustain and replenish, but then she quickly moves
along to how companies are poisoning drinking water (this is the stuff
with Erin Brockovich, which are the best scenes in the movie).
Then, she moves on to ways companies and scientists are trying to clean
used water to be safe enough to drink, plus we have to tackle the
growing problem of medicines and pharmaceuticals finding their way into
the water system because we don't have a sewage treatment process that
will clean out birth control, Prozac and other drugs often finding
their ways into rivers.
Eventually, your mind starts spinning as you attempt to comprehend and
process all of it, but Yu knows how to get the audience interested in
something many of us have not considered, even though it is essential
to us all.
Last Call At The Oasis is rated PG-13 for some
disturbing content and brief strong language
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