GasLand (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Additional Footage Interviews-Crew-Josh Fox - with David Stratton Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	102:52 (Case: 104)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Josh Fox
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Josh Fox Dick Cheney Pete Seeger Richard Nixon Aubrey K. McClendon Pat Fernelli Ron Carter Jean Carter Norma Fiorentino Debbie May
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Gasland is an interesting and scary documentary which tells a personal story but in so doing exposes a story of unethical behaviour, government in bed with big business and dangerous and environment threatening natural gas mining techniques. The director, Josh Fox (who is normally a theatre director) gets a letter from a large gas exploration company about his family home in rural Pennsylvania. They offer him a large sum of money to lease his land for gas exploration. He decides he wants to understand better what he would be signing up for and how it might affect his land and the surrounding waterways. He starts to investigate other parts of the country where gas exploration has been undertaken and a method called hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' which has been used in many places across the US (and recently in Australia).

     What he discovers shocks him and he decides to make this film to record his discoveries. He finds that the gas companies were given rights under US legislation to use potentially dangerous methods of extraction without having to conform to a whole raft of environmental laws and without having to reveal the chemicals they used. He finds that these methods seem to have resulted in lots of damage to the environment including contamination of the drinking water tables in many parts of the country. He meets many people whose water has been contaminated by chemicals, some of which can light their tap water on fire, due to the chemical content. He also finds areas where natural water sources have been so badly contaminated that animals and fish are dead or dying. Many people he talks to have been getting sick as they continue to live in these areas. The overall effect is that there must be something wrong here but when he tries to talk to the companies involved or the government environmental protection agencies he gets the big brush off. It becomes obvious that this problem is sanctioned or being brushed under the carpet.

     This is certainly an interesting and concerning subject matter which is explored without sensationalism, despite some repetitiveness in terms of individual case studies, which do tend to ram home his point a little. It is a very worthwhile documentary which tells a very concerning story which we need to take note of here in Australia.

     Recommended.

Video

     The video quality is good but is obviously based on amateur footage.

     The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced. The picture was generally clear and sharp throughout and where it wasn't it was a function of hidden cameras or just poorly shot footage. The shadow detail is quite good. The colour is quite dull, driven by the source footage. There were no noticeable artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

     There is no noticeable layer change during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is good. This disc contains an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.

     Dialogue was clear and easy to hear and understand. The music is mostly banjo by the director. The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     A small selection of extras.

Menu

     The menu was pretty standard featuring minor motion and music.

Bonus Scenes (46:34)

     Lots of extra stuff here which was shot along the way. Mostly it repeats extra iterations of things in the film or extends interviews etc. Certainly interesting for those who find the subject fascinating.

Interview - Josh Fox - with David Stratton, At The Movies (7:17)

     Not bad, but there is nothing here which is overly revealing.

Theatrical Trailer (2:54)

    The Region 1 version is pretty similar  except the David Stratton interview and trailer are added for the local release. Go Region 4.

     A fascinating and scary documentary which tells a story which needs to be heard.

     The video quality is good. The audio quality is good. Extras are decent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall