The big screen documentary the great invisible from director margaret brown tells the story of the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion as seen through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and gulf coast residents who experienced it firsthand and then were left to. Brown is just one of the many subjects in documentarian margaret brown s latest effort, the great invisible. The great invisible premiered at the sxsw film festival, where it went on to win the grand jury prize. Nov 04, 2014 the great invisible premiered at the sxsw film festival, where it went on to win the grand jury prize. So in many ways you probably expect this to be a familiar story. Empathetic, smartly crafted, and ultimately devastating, the great invisible offers a deep and expansive look at the causes and effects of american energy. The great invisible margaret browns latest is a complex, deeply sobering appraisal of the fallout from the bp oil spill. Nov 11, 2014 margaret browns observational new documentary, the great invisible, doesnt directly question this received account. This film is a powerful indictment of the corporate greed and. Margaret brown rectifies that in her new documentary, the great invisible. Documentarian margaret browns new film depicts the response to the 2010 deepwater horizon explosion and resultant oil spill from multiple viewpoints. But whatever you picture, that image is undoubtedly too simple, too narrow.
The film acknowledges the instinct toward simplistic polarization, but then softly, compellingly tries to push against it. The great invisible is a reminder that the problem of offshore drilling, and our energy policy in general, is still a bubbling pot. In this stopmotion short film, a bird raised by mice begins to question where she belongs and sets off on a daring journey of selfdiscovery. This film is a powerful indictment of the corporate greed and corruption of bp, transocean and halliburton. Oct 29, 2014 on one hand, the great invisible is the estimated 4. Though at its heart a work of advocacy, this documentary about the aftermath of bps disastrous oil spill is. The great invisible probably doesnt tell the story you expect about the bp oil spill one of oilsoaked birds and passionate environmentalists. Needless to say, bp declined to participate in the making of this film, to reference one of the few moments here that gets a laugh. With meccah boyntonbrown, doug brown, bob cavnar, brent coon. Instead, it examines the disaster mostly from the point of view of workers and poor coastal residents. The great invisible was enthusiastically received at its world premiere at austins sxsw film festival. When the deepwater horizon oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico in april 2010, killing 11 workers and creating what would become one of the worst oil spills in history, many lives were changed forever.
She produced the narrative feature film mi amigo, released in 2006 by thinkfilm and starring josh holloway of lost. In the thoughtprovoking new documentary the great invisible, peabody awardwinning documentarian margaret brown travels to small towns and major cities in alabama, louisiana and texas to explore the fallout of the disaster on the people of the region. At once unique and completely universal, the great invisible speaks to the ongoing tension between the haves and the havenots, exploring the crisis through the eyes of oil industry executives, survivors, and local residents who are left to pick up the pieces while the world moves on. She returned to her native gulf coast to make the great invisible winner of the 2014 sxsw documentary grand jury prize, which tells the human story of the aftermath of the devastating april 20. Director margaret brown spent four years investigating the impact of this environmental disaster and talking to those who. By midmay she was back home with a camera crew to see for herself how the spill would upend the natural order of gulf coast living. Oct 29, 2014 the great invisible the big screen documentary the great invisible from director margaret brown tells the story of the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion as seen through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and gulf coast residents who experienced it firsthand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on. The film is a very loose modern adaptation of the novel of the same name by h. It took a shockingly long time for universal pictures to make a great film based on one of their most. When you think of the deepwater horizon oil spill, you may picture sludgesopped birds, shuttered beaches dotted with tarballs, or idle fishing boats. It stars elisabeth moss, oliver jacksoncohen, aldis hodge, storm reid and harriet. The great invisible, directed by margaret brown the order of myths, seeks to explore the lingering psychological, emotional, and economic fallout from the deepwater horizon tragedy of 2010an explosion that killed 11 workers on the bp.
Yet while the documentary pays proper homage to him and other workers, those who both lived and died aboard the rig when it exploded in april 2010. The great invisible film platform educational rights. The great invisible film platform educational rights and. It was then picked up by radius citizenfour, 20 feet from stardom who are now plugging. The former allows it to not simply say bp is evil, but instead examine what, precisely, compels independent contractors to employ cost cutting. The film stars elisabeth moss, aldis hodge, storm reid, harriet dyer, michael dorman, and oliver.
The great invisible is brought to you by participant media and produced by julie goldman, jason orans, jeff skoll, diane weyermann, john battsek, sally jo fifer. On april 20, 2010, the deepwater horizon oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico. Browns new film, the great invisible, is a meditation on a fatal accident whose deadly effects touched people of all walks of life, from prosperous oilmen to impoverished oyster shuckers. Though at its heart a work of advocacy, this documentary about the aftermath of bps disastrous. In this thoughtprovoking documentary which impressed audiences and won the grand jury prize at the sxsw film festival, peabody award winning documentarian margaret brown the order of myths explores the fallout of the explosion of deepwater horizon, a stateoftheart offshore drilling rig operated by bp in the gulf of mexico. This week, senior writer katie rife is joined by contributor ignatiy vishnevetsky to discuss some new releases. On one hand, the great invisible is the estimated 4. At once unique and completely universal, the great invisible speaks to the ongoing tension between the haves and the havenots, exploring the crisis through the eyes of oil industry executives, surviv. Is there any real point to making a documentary about a widely publicized event if the film conforms precisely to any rational viewers expectations.
The great invisible margaret brown 2014 the story of the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion as seen through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and gulf coast residents who experienced it firsthand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on. It follows a woman who believes she is being stalked by her abusive and wealthy boyfriend even after his apparent suicide. It killed 11 workers and caused the worst oil spill in american history. At once a fascinating corporate thriller, a heartbreaking human drama and a peek inside the walls of the secretive oil industry, the great invisible is the first documentary feature to go beyond the media coverage to examine the crisis in depth through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and gulf coast residents who experienced it firsthand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on. The great invisible margaret browns film was a grand jury winner at the recent sxsw festival radius has acquired u. Check out what these amazing community leaders have to say. But one of the strengths of the great invisible is. The abusive male himself might be unseen, but the fear he spreads is in plain sight in the invisible man, leigh whannells sophisticated scifihorror that dares to turn a womans often silenced trauma from a toxic relationship into something unbearably tangible. This originally ran on february 27, and we are rerunning because of its early vod drop. Oct 29, 2014 winner of the sxsw grand jury prize for documentary, the film is strongest when it focuses on the micro rather than the macro. The invisible man is a 2020 science fiction horror film written and directed by leigh whannell. The great invisible that gives the film its title is still out there the unseen crude that sunk to the ocean floor, the unanswered questions about the consequences of oil consumption on. The great invisible works to simultaneously embed and critique forms of narrative and to interrogate the category of biography. A documentary on the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion as seen through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and gulf coast residents who experienced it firsthand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on.
The great invisible anchor bay 2015 pg dvd format this documentary was actually distributed by a major studio. The great invisible, on the deepwater horizon oil spill. Oct 26, 2014 t he great invisible opens with home videos taken by doug brown, chief engineer of the deepwater horizon offshore drilling platform, providing intimate glimpses of what he terms a secret world. Hired to displace tribal villagers to make way for a new highway, officials unearth an old curse and an army of british soldier. Brown earned her ba from brown university in creative writing and her mfa in. Margaret brown returns to the gulf for the great invisible. Oct 29, 2014 the great invisible, margaret browns quietly infuriating documentary film about the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill, includes depressing information that many would probably be happier. Apr 20, 2015 the great invisible that gives the film its title is still out there the unseen crude that sunk to the ocean floor, the unanswered questions about the consequences of oil consumption on.
Instead of spending time with talking heads, the emphasis here is on the perspectives of survivors of. The great invisible trailer 2014 trailer for the great invisible. The great invisible is a hardhitting and illuminating documentary on the oil spill directed by margaret brown. First up, our critics take a look at writerdirector leigh whannells ingenious update on the invisible man, starring elisabeth moss in top form as the central protagonist, and oliver jacksoncohen as the eponymous monster. Mar 20, 2020 this originally ran on february 27, and we are rerunning because of its early vod drop.
A simple yet very layered question that began the journey of invisible, 3 years ago. A film about townes van zandt, which was released in the united states by palm pictures and received worldwide theatrical distribution in 2005. The face of a disaster like this is often environmental devastation. Mar, 2014 the great invisible is a challenging film to make.
The invisible guardian 2017 tvma 2h 8m international movies when an fbitrained cop returns to her navarre hometown to catch a killer targeting local teens, she must also face personal demons from her past. In 2014, she directed the feature documentary the great invisible which won the sxsw grand jury prize for documentary and received an emmy nomination for exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking and aired on independent lens on pbs on april 2015. The great invisible, margaret browns quietly infuriating documentary film about the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill, includes depressing information that many would probably be happier. The great invisible that gives the film its title is still out there the unseen crude that sunk to the ocean floor, the unanswered questions about the consequences of oil consumption on a. Wells and a remake of the 1933 film adaptation of the same name. As anybody can probably infer based on the above, the film focuses on the horizon, the tragedy, the many and exponentially increasing elements that led to the disaster, and how people have lived their lives in its wake. We finally have a great new universal classic monsters movie. Winner of the sxsw grand jury prize for documentary, the film is strongest when it focuses on the micro rather than the macro. It does answer an awful lot of questions, disturbingly showing how far we have not come in making progress towards low carbon energy sources. T he great invisible opens with home videos taken by doug brown, chief engineer of the deepwater horizon offshore drilling platform, providing intimate glimpses of what he terms a secret world. It is a difficult film, refusing easy linearity and performing an intense work on the imageits pleasure, its legibility, its historicity. The great invisible official trailer takepart youtube. A documentary with an agenda, the great invisible solemnly recounts the catastrophic consequences of the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion off. In 2010, the deepwater horizon oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico, killing 11 workers and causing the worst oil spill in history.
Margaret browns observational new documentary, the great invisible, doesnt directly question this received account. First look at the trailer for the great invisible, the. The great invisible director margaret brown discusses the hidden truths uncovered in her documentary on the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion. The ecological and human impact of the gulf disaster. Interweaving personal stories with insight from industry insiders. The great invisible critics consensus empathetic, smartly crafted, and ultimately devastating, the great invisible offers a deep and expansive look at the causes and effects of american energy policy. The great invisible a documentary on the deepwater horizon oil rig explosion as seen through the eyes of oil executives, survivors and gulf coast residents who experienced it firsthand and then were left to pick up the pieces while the world moved on. The film makes clear the gross negligence in bps actions leading up to the catastrophe and the bungled cleanup operation afterward. The great invisible humanizes the bp oil spill, but. And that indeed was one repercussion of 176 million gallons of oil pouring into the gulf of mexico for 87 days, the largest spill in history. Yet while the documentary pays proper homage to him and other workers, those who both lived and died aboard the rig when it exploded in april 2010, director margaret brown casts a considerably. Crew members, families, fishermen, and others still haunted by the deepwater horizon explosion provide firsthand accounts of their experience. The great invisible is a documentary by filmmaker margaret brown that not only tries to explain what happened in the gulf of mexico on the night of april 20, 2010, but why it happened.
592 282 105 1559 1450 145 1080 1182 1210 647 1523 1618 1550 1108 781 1480 263 687 110 1487 269 496 399 563 334 657 1139 1234 834 941 972