2006 Films   •   2006 Film Festival

Director: Daniel Hammill
Category: Spiritual
RT: 26m

Oil and Water, Reflections on Nature, Madness and Psyche is an experimental film that attempts to nudge the consideration of how humans live in relation to the earth, from the predominate forum of current political drama toward poetic psychological and historical perspectives. Many classical indigenous and eastern cultures tell stories again and again where the outcome is already generally known. In doing so, the vicissitudes of 'what happens next' and 'which side will win' lose their urgency as myth is spun from history, and 'how do we live' and 'what is important' emerge as the generative questions. Oil and Water engages, by American cultural standards, an old story - the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. This film is a voice among many in a chorus echoing a tragedy. Tragedy forces us to stop and consider. We retell and recreate the stories of tragedy to remember their poignancy. Otherwise, we tend to idiotically repeat the tragedy to meet our desire and need for poignancy. Even dedicated environmentalists often become addicted to the destructiveness of others for the renewal of their motivations. Love, beauty and the interconnectedness of all beings are of course profound sources of motivation to protect the earth, our home. This film, while inevitably succumbing somewhat to epic pretensions, is a small prayer for a sustainable environmental ethic, made of equal parts joy and despair.

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