‘The Great Invisible’
Investigating the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the documentary “The Great Invisible” gives voice to the previously nameless and faceless victims of the disaster.
Some worked on the oil rig that fateful day; others have suffered its environmental and economic consequences.
Filmmaker Margaret Brown checks in with Deepwater Horizon chief mechanic Doug Brown and rig worker Stephen Stone, as well as with Keith Jones, whose son was among the 11 people killed. Their home movies provide glimpses of the rig inside and out; the film shows Doug Brown and Stone accusing BP and Transocean of cutting corners to save time and money.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the temporary moratorium on offshore drilling pitted the fishery community of Bayou La Batre, Ala., against the rig workers of Morgan City, La.
Although BP promised $20 billion for area residents, it inundates them with red tape and, according to the film, rejects nearly half the claims.
In Houston, where oil company delegates gather for the Offshore Technology Con-ference, industry types at an impromptu round table candidly discuss the renaissance of U.S. drilling, the sense of entitlement of American consumers and the viability of alternative energy sources. (One person compares the explosion of Deepwater Horizon to the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan.)
By positing that, after taxes, leases for oil drilling sites generate the most revenue for the federal government, the film chillingly hints at how deep the region’s problems may go.
‘The Great Invisible’- 3 stars
No MPAA rating
Running time: 1:32
Opens: Friday at the Music Box Theatre. Also on VOD.
—Martin Tsai, special to Tribune Newspapers
‘Bird People’
An airport hotel may not seem the most inspiring of locations for a story of life-changing consequence, but French filmmaker Pascale Ferran’s delicate, compassionate “Bird People” is just that sort of risk-taking existential adventure.
Opening with a breathtaking montage of Parisians in transit, coursing like ants through public spaces, it then settles on two loners converging at the aforementioned hotel, unveiling their lives separately: Gary (Josh Charles), an American on an important business trip, and Audrey (a captivating Anais Demoustier), a young woman beginning a soul-deadening job as a chambermaid.
Ingrained anxiety, modern life’s enforced separation and the strange allure of planes continuously taking off in the background lead each character toward momentous decisions, and in Audrey’s case, a literal leap of imagination and transformation. Gary’s cutting-all-ties conversion is grounded, finely turned by Charles, and in a long Skype session with the wife he’s leaving (Radha Mitchell), perhaps intentionally dull.
But Ferran’s sudden flight of fancy with Audrey is simply a dazzling stretch of immersive cinema, a swooping, even poignant celebration of the feeling of escape and discovery. Ferran’s eccentricity is an acquired taste, but the light, emotional artfulness of “Bird People” — a cry for the senses in a world that so often dulls — is welcome.
‘Bird People’- 3 stars
No MPAA rating
Running time: 2:08
Opens: Friday at the Siskel Film Center
—Robert Abele, special to Tribune Newspapers
