Compelling, engaging, informative. Americans love their electricity. They love it to the point of dependency, perhaps addiction. This documentary sheds some light (so to speak) on the sources of that power -- specifically natural gas.

Haynesville refers to the location of a huge, recently-discovered deposit of natural gas. Surprisingly, we Americans don't seem so excited by this strike. Were it oil, we'd turned our heads, we'd even remember this find. This documentary has great worth especially because we're such big users of fossil-fueled electricity and because we're so oblivious to the use of natural gas in that arena.

Technically speaking, this is a well put together piece. Knowing its audience's disinterest in the topic, filmmakers fashion a punchy, direct to the point, attention-getting opening that successfully gets our attention. From there, they weave facts and figures into stories of real life personal drama. We get to know the people sitting on the shale ("the Jed Clampets" as one pundit put it). And we get to know Kassi. She's the hidden treasure unearthed by this film. Almost single-handedly, lending a hand to her fellow neighbors, she's a source of great power and dare I say inspiration. If every town had one Kassi, this would be a much better world.

So, watch the film to educate yourself on the world, on your impact on the world, and to inspire yourself to help others in the world. I've got nothing negative to say about this piece, save, once, it felt like it was starting to crank a little too lefty for my tastes -- but that was just once. For the most part, it just reports what it sees. I'd be interested in a Volume Two, perhaps shot from the perspective of the power companies.

-- Books by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony --