GASLAND (Josh Fox, U.S.). 107 minutes. Friday (April 30), 9:45 pm, Isabel Bader Sunday (May 2), 12:30 pm, Bloor May 9, 9:30 pm, Royal. Rating: NNNN
You haven’t experienced environmen tal dread until you’ve seen tap water catch fire.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Sundance earlier this year, Josh Fox’s exploration of the ecological toll of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” – the process of driving toxic chemicals into the earth to mine underground depo sits of natural gas, which inevitably contaminates the area – is a chilling look at yet another unpleasant legacy of the Bush-Cheney years, when the safety of any given act placed a distant second to its profitability.
Matthew Sanchez’s whip-smart edit ing gives Fox’s discoveries an additional layer of sophistication and urgency.[rssbreak]
