Event

THE GREAT INVISIBLE (FILM at the Erie Art Museum)

April 22
The Great Invisible (2014)
Documentary: Environment/Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Sponsored by Whole Foods Cooperative

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in a blaze of fire that could be seen 35 miles away, killing 11 workers and causing the worst oil spill in American history. THE GREAT INVISIBLE, the first comprehensive overview of the incident and its aftermath, is the result of four years that Alabama-born Brown spent traveling in the small towns and major cities all around the Gulf, talking to those affected.

With an eye for unforgettable characters, Brown gained the trust of a wide range of people, from industry insiders to smalltown fishermen, from lawyers administering BP's faulty compensation fund to the shell-shocked survivors of the initial blast (one of whom provides chilling first-person video taken onboard the Deepwater Horizon in the days leading up to the disaster). Together, their testimony adds up to a damning portrait of an industry whose lack of government oversight led to unthinkable catastrophe a lack of oversight that has not changed, despite the widespread outrage at the time.

Directed by: Margaret Brown. Rated PG-13. 92 Minutes.