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About Water

About Water

Über Wasser

Austria, 2007, 82 min, 35mm
In German with English subtitles
North American Premiere

Directed By: Udo Maurer
PRODS: Erich Lackner, Anne Schroeder
SCR: Udo Maurer, Michael Glawogger, Ursula Sova
CAM: Attila Boa
ED: Udo Maurer

As effective as An Inconvenient Truth was, it only described a situation–it didn’t actually show it. About Water is (yet another) superb Austrian documentary that transports the viewer to far-flung parts of the globe and immerses them in environments they may never forget. Remarkable for the clarity of its images and sound, About Water is also clear on its intentions: simply to show what life is already like in places that have either too much, or too little, water.

Co-written by fellow documentarian Michael Glawogger (Megacities, Workingman’s Death), Udo Maurer’s timely and urgent film begins its story in Bangladesh, the biggest river delta in the world, where flooding constantly threatens one of the world’s densest populations. We have lots to learn from the way they handle the wet element. Next we travel to Kazakhstan’s Aral Sea where a monumental ship cemetery in the desert forms a surreal landscape. Idyllically jubilant Soviet propaganda films are counterpointed with the few remaining residents’ telling accounts of modernity gone wrong. Finally we travel to the immense and colourful human beehive of one of the largest slums in Africa, the Kibera district of Nairobi, Kenya. Here we witness the day-to-day struggle, strength and spirit of the busy residents. These are people whose lives may well stand for a majority of the world’s population before too long…

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