Oil Storm - James Erskine - (2005) DVD

Documentary-style footage reveals the aftermath of disastrous events that disrupt the flow of oil to the United States.

I have no idea how probable it is for a hurricane or terrorists to seriously cut off our oil supply, but I do know that most of the leading respected experts (oil and petroleum geologists) in the world today agree on a phenomenon called "Peak Oil". This phenomenon when explained to many people flies right over their heads although it is a fairly simple thing to grasp once you take a little time to do some research. Basically over the past 50-100 years we have exploded our population numbers on the reliance of cheap plentiful energy in the form of hydrocarbons. Over those past 50 years our need for oil has increased dramatically in order to continue business as usual for 6 billion people - that is, we have had to increase the rate at which we extract it from the ground. The Peak Oil concept states that we have reached the peak with which we can extract the oil and from now on we will be in continual decline. This means less and less oil available for a world demanding more and more each and every day. This means our entire industrialized society comes crumbling down as just about everything we buy and consume on a daily basis is dependent on that oil. Imagine for a moment what it would be like if gas costs $10 a gallon and you have to drive 20 miles to get to one of the few remaining gas stations still open for business. Imagine a loaf of bread costing $8 - imagine now that you are laid off work or your wages have been cut by 50% because your company can barely stay in business.

What would you do? How would you take care of your family?

Unlike most hyperbole based fear movies, this one keeps things on a very personal level. The footage plays very realistically. It is also not just a "look how screwed you've let yourself become" type film beating you over the head with ridiculous stretches of reality, the problem while dealt with is at least adjusted to, like would happen in real life. This feels not only very real, but very possible, and at the same time doesn't appear to be pushing agenda. If anything the political tone seems noticeably understated.

This TV movie aired on Fox on June 5th, 2005 and opened with a Category 4 Hurricane striking Port Fourchon (just a few miles west of New Orleans) on Labor Weekend. There was a lot of footage of a deeply devastated New Orleans. Katrina striking within miles and within one day of the hurricane in the film, secured that this film would never be aired again for some time, and so far it has not. Which is a shame because much more so than the all the scare documentary type films that have that air of disbelief about them - this one needs to be seen.

We live in a country of celebrity worship, fast food, TV addiction and car fanaticism. Americans consume so much energy that the mere concept of energy is foreign to most of us. It's all we know. We have never seen what happens when things really start to go wrong.

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