There’s Something in the Water

From filmmakers Ellen Page and Ian Daniel comes this passionate yet somewhat thin documentary exploring environmental racism in Halifax, as the directors tell three separate stories revolving around the toll that big business has taken on smaller, impoverished communities. It’s clear immediately that both Page and Daniel feel very strongly about this issue, and it’s not surprising to note, as a result, that There’s Something in the Water predominantly comes off as a justifiably angry piece of work – with the picture boasting a handful of palpably emotional, wrenching segments. (There is, for example, a very strong sequence in which a local activist tours Page and Daniel around a neighborhood where most people have contracted cancer due to waste produced by a nearby factory.) It’s that emphasis on the human side of these true-life tales that ultimately cements There’s Something in the Water‘s mild success, although, by that same token, there’s little doubt that the movie does begin to palpably run out of steam once it passes the one-hour mark (ie this would be perfect as a 60 minute TV special, it seems).

*** out of ****