FRACKNATION: REAL JOURNALISM

I grew up in a time when true journalism was prevalent though not always the case. People held a certain amount of skepticism when listening to or reading the news. But for the most part journalist were intent of finding the truth of the matter, getting to it by any and all means. The same was true of documentary film makers. Then Watergate happened. It wasn't that Woodward and Bernstein didn't find the truth, but in becoming the center of attention in that scandal journalism went from intrepid reporters seeking the truth to journalists trying to take center stage and become celebrities instead of reporters.

The same thing happened to documentary film makers. Gone were the days of movies that ranged from interesting to completely boring and in their place were films made by people with agendas instead of those seeking the truth. Sure, the Disney nature films we grew up with had set pieces in them but there was no harm or attack being made with those films. Today's documentary's instead follow the example led by Michael Moore where no matter what the reality is you simply cut things to fit your agenda and leave the rest on the cutting room floor. If it doesn't suit your needs, then it is filed away where no one can find it. In essence, the truth is out there but hidden by the very people who claim to want to show you the truth.

That being said I didn't know what to expect when I watched FRACKNATION. I went in wondering if I was going to get yet another movie that claimed to be a documentary while doing nothing more than pushing its agenda. There is still the possibility that this is exactly what we find but with the way the story it tells unfolds, with the facts that can be found these days on the internet, I was left feeling that I was actually getting reality her, getting the truth.

Journalist Philem McAleer sets out after seeing the film GASLAND, a documentary about the dangers of fracking, to discover if what they've shown is true or not. With this country's dependency on oil it would seem that finding other ways to discover fuel sources would be a good thing. The movie GASLAND shows the damage and danger involved with fracking, highlighted by a scene in the film where a family suing over fracking shows the film makers how their tap water catches in fire when a flame is placed near it, a truly astounding sight to see. The movie takes the side of environmentalists who claim that fracking is the most evil of all things in existence.

As McAleer delves deeper into the items presented in that movie, he soon discovers that there are blatant misrepresentations and some out and out lies being told. The biggest one focuses around that ready for viewing video bite which was picked up by so many news outlets, the flaming tap water. It turns out that the tap water of numerous people in the location it was filmed with actually does, on occasion, light up when ignited. The thing is it has been doing it for years, many prior to when fracking was going on. This would mean that fracking had nothing to do with what we were witnessing even though it was being called the villain responsible for it.

McAleer goes to a Q & A session with the director and star of that documentary, Josh Fox. When he gets the chance to ask Fox questions about the validity of the facts he cites in the film, Fox attempts to turn the tables and portray McAleer as being uninformed while at the same time never answering any of the questions put to him. It displays him as being disingenuous at best and a fraud at worst. But this is merely the beginning of the film. There is much more about Mr. Fox that the film brings out as it progresses.

Taking the various items posed in the GASLAND film, McAleer goes through them one at a time and disproves them. In so doing he doesn't necessarily promote fracking, though one could see where it is not near the demon it is portrayed as by environmentalists, but he does show that with some money, a camera and a will to deceive a new generation of journalists and documentary film makers will lie and twist things to the point that what the end product becomes is not a dose of reality but pure propaganda.

The main thing that you should walk away from this film wondering isn't about fracking but about the film makers out there today. The question I was left with was why would someone who was trying to inform me, to present an actual problem to me, feel the need to manipulate the facts, to blatantly lie, to misinform, who would use any and all means necessary to alter those facts to suit their needs to convince me of their cause? If they are willing to lie and change facts then why would I believe anything they had to say? In an overzealous need to push their agenda they instead push me away and cause me to doubt what they have to say.

It goes further than just this movie and the one it focuses on. When you look online for reviews of this film you find that the ones giving it the lowest marks never discuss the facts presented by McAleer. Instead they attempt character assassination by calling him names, try to portray him as a paid employee of big oil companies and ignore the fact that their hero out and out lied about so many things. They display an attitude of the ends justify the means.

This movie, rather than portraying fracking as a cure all (even though in the end it does support it), shows the state of documentary film making and news reporting in this country. Network news programs willing to grab up any video clips that support a story they are doing without delving any deeper than the descriptions given by those who shot the story display shoddy journalism. Documentary film makers who feel it fine to lie and alter facts show that they've stepped away from making documentaries and are more concerned with self promotion and seeking adulation than in making a purely objective film.

FRACKNATION is good in so many ways. It makes its points in compelling fashion while entertaining at the same time. It does take a side of the issue but not to the point of ignoring most facts or using it as an attack piece on groups, even though it does take Mr. Fox to task for the way he does things. At the heart of it what it does is make you hunger for more information. It makes you want to find the absolute truth about the subject of fracking. That is what a good documentary should be doing, seeking the truth.

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