Film: Deepwater Horizon – true story of worst and lengthiest oil spill in U.S. history

14 October 2016.

DEEPWATER HORIZON ***

A true story. A gigantic oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The worst and lengthiest oil spill in U.S. history. 11 men killed. BP and Transocean as the greedy giants they were. And exceptional heroism under terrifying conditions.

You wouldn’t be wrong if you took this for a Hollywood blockbuster with action, suspense and lots of explosions. It has all the thrills one expects from that genre, including Mark Wahlberg (as the true life hero and survivor, Mike Williams), Kurt Russell and John Malkovich (as the BP front man).

But the film is about an actual man-made disaster that happened in 2010. The real characters, timeline and explosions are brilliantly portrayed, with a committed Wahlberg as not only the main character but also producer. Peter Berg does a fine job of directing this hyper-realistic saga of one of the most damaging environmental disasters ever.

This is a film which will have you glued to your seat, forgetting life around you and feeling the scorch of the platform as it blows up in flames before collapsing. But also feeling for the characters and the social and economic implications. See it on the big screen.

Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars

By Neptune

Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.

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