H2Oil review

Following on from Dirty Oil and Petropolis, this is the third in a trilogy of ‘toxic fuel’ documentaries exploring the catastrophic environmental consequences of the gigantic oil extraction programme in Canada’s Athabasca tar sands.

Director Shannon Walsh focuses on how this industrial plunder has depleted and contaminated the region’s natural water supplies.

Particularly badly affected are the local indigenous people, whose cancer rates have skyrocketed.

Incorporating a wide range of testimonies, striking location photography and animated sequences, H2Oil uses this case study to ask important wider questions about the long-term sustainability of our oil-dependent lifestyles.