Power Paths (Yes, it's about energy)

I came across POWER PATHS (2009) by looking through KLRU's new COVE system akin to video online systems like Hulu. I work at Austin's PBS station KLRU so I've already gotten some exprience with COVE and online video distribution in general . Going back on topic, POWER PATHS was on Independent Lens and is a documentary about Native Americans reclaiming their environment and resources and using them to their advantage in a clean, sustainable, and self-profiting way. The Navajo Indians 30 years ago were taken advantage by a coal plant who started destroying the land by surface mining. Eventually, the natural aquifers found on the Indian's land were being dried by the coal slurry that shipped out millions of gallons of their precious water to California. As a threat to their land, their water, and their livelihood, they fight to close the plant and use renewable energy sources to empower their community.

This documentary has many similarities to the documentary I created in this class this semester. One of which is the obvious; it's a documentary about energy. The beginning of the film openned with a discussion on how transmission lines for electricity flowed continuously through the Native American's land but little of the electricity was actually allocated or consumed there (even despite that most of the energy was created there). With this discussion, the film used extensive amounts of B-Roll of transmission lines though it was beautifully shot. I was reminded of the part of the my documentary of the same topic that became stagnate due in part because of the lack of 'revealing' and diversified B-Roll. It got me asking the question: why do we need to see static transmission lines over and over again? Am I making some sort of point by doing so? Nevertheless, the documentary did not dwell on this aspect and actually made me wonder why exactly they started with that sequence instead of a more broad approach that attaches us to the Native Americans and not power lines.

One of the things that made my documentary a little dissimilar to this documentary is the fact that it has many more 'action' or event type scenes - something that puts us into the flowing movements of the narrative. It shows a local Native American rancher surveying his land remembering the way it used to be; where there was water continually flowing, now exists barren and dry dirt. Another scene depicts various protests by local citizens demanding a stop to the pollution from the nearby coal plants. There were I feel an unnecessary amount of sound bits of the protest, which gave a sense of unfairness in terms of the voices we were hearing. As a matter of fact there were very few proponents of coal burning energy; very few as in one person, and he was Native American.

One of the most intriguing parts of the documentary was when they were finally able to close the plant. This naturally shifted to the next Act of the film, which was finding a solution that gave the locals a job and didn't pollute their land and water. It gave me something to look forward to in terms of how they responded to the problem of finding a solution.

The biggest difference between my documentary and POWER PATHS is the fact that this documentary revolves around a community of people. The human element to this documentary gives a greater depth to the story than a documentary without it. It is without a doubt that the next documentary I create will be focusing on individuals involved with a developing and intelligible story. But, don't let that fool you into thinking I don't enjoy creating meaning and narrative the hard way!