The Big Fix | Film Review | Slant Magazine

FILM MOVIE REVIEW

Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell as seen in The Big Fix. [Photo: Green Planet Productions]

The Big Fix *½

by Nick Schager on November 28, 2011 Jump to Comments (3) or Add Your Own

Agitprop documentaries are prone to not just biased viewpoints but self-righteousness and condescension—a triple whammy to which The Big Fix can lay claim. Directors Josh and Rebecca Harrell Tickell's film fixates on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year that raged for months and polluted countless miles of prime New Orleans fishing ocean. It's a crime about which the directors—never one to squander an opportunity to prop themselves up—bluntly vow to uncover the truth. This involves sneaking onto oil-stained beaches in the middle of the night and shooting night-vision footage of random shapes and sprays that cohorts claim are BP machines dousing the area with Corexit, a highly toxic chemical created by Exxon in the wake of their own Valdez catastrophe. Corexit is damned as a nightmare non-solution by the film, but like so many of its claims, that censure comes via talking heads with the same opinion as that of the Tickells, thereby making dubious the material's arguments about Corexit and many other alleged BP infractions. That BP is culpable for both the atrocious spill and the pitifully slow reaction to the crisis is undeniable. Yet by staking out only one side of the issue, The Big Fix inadvertently calls into question virtually every one of its contentions.

The Tickells' style is a predictable grab bag of interviews with outraged experts and journalists, TV news footage, and scenes in which the filmmakers (and, during one trip, fellow activists Peter Fonda and Amy Smart) make faux-daring journeys into the fray to bring back supposed realities that corporate America seeks to hide. Along the way, the Tickells cast themselves as outlaw rebels determined to risk their safety for the greater good, as when Rebecca comes down with a strange skin irritations that she and her doctor assert may be from contact with Corexit, all while delivering patronizing statements like "This is a rigged game that most Americans don't understand."

The Big Fix eventually takes a detour into slamming U.S. campaign finance as the root cause of the Gulf of Mexico spill as well as most political evils, but while this thread makes logical sense, it temporarily hijacks the proceedings to the detriment of specific and legitimate criticisms of BP's conduct. That lack of focus, however, is merely one of many shortcomings of this doc, which, when not reveling in bias, also finds a way to both make unsubstantiated insinuations about activist deaths (it was the oil companies!) and, after a reporter calls New Orleans political bigwigs "cheap hookers," to provide a prolonged montage of sexualized Cinemax-worthy red-light-district imagery.

Director(s): Joshua Tickell, Rebecca Harrell Tickell
Screenplay: Johnny O'Hara
Cast: Joshua Tickell, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, Peter Fonda, Amy Smart
Distributor: Green Planet Productions
Runtime: 90 min.
Rating: NR
Year: 2011

Comments

paulmcginniss on November 30, 2011, 03:16 PM

I guess this reviewer saw a different film than I did! This film is a must see. The Big Fix screenings in Santa Monica, California were sold out and the film was warmly received by the audiences. And for this reviewer to make light of the use of the toxic chemical Corexit by saying the film's claims made about Corexit's use in the Gulf are dubiousâ€”not to mention make light of filmmaker Rebecca Harrell's health is incredibly callous. Marine explorer and passionate advocate of the seas, Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of legendary Jacques Yves Cousteau is in the film and says about the shocking cover up depicted in The Big Fix: "We are being lied to." The Cousteau family and many others from the NRDC and other reputable groups like Waterkeeper Alliance support the message of this film. At the Dec 2ndâ€”8th NYC screenings of The Big Fix at the AMC Village 7, leading environmental advocates from around the country will have nightly post screening discussions with the filmmakers and the audiences. Everyone should go see this film.

greenisgood on November 30, 2011, 03:18 PM

Clearly the author of this review has his own agenda. Where ever there is someone trying to uncover the truth there will be someone to try and knock them down and discredit them as radicals or only out to better themselves. The real question is what would Josh and Rebecca have to gain from this situation? What does Rebecca have to gain from getting poisoned in the Gulf?

Josh and Rebecca have gone out on a limb to expose what really is going on in the gulf and what it going on in our country. You can go to the Gulf yourself and see how sick people are and eat the shrimp with no eyes that are coming up from the water and decide for yourself. My question to the author is who are you protecting? Where are your interests?

This film is to show only part of the puzzle of the conspiracies that take place in our nation and the cover ups that are supposed to keep American's in the dark and keep us hooked on oil so they can continue to wet there pockets and we can continue to destroy our environment.

WAKE UP! We are killing our earth, we are killing ourselves and we are doing it by continuing to allow people like the author of this article to get away with trying to degrade films like THE BIG FIX.

kimbo_slice on December 1, 2011, 02:53 PM

The content in this film is astounding and a huge reality check. The cinematography is beautiful and the story is intense and interesting to follow.

The unique and personal perspectives of actual victims of the spill are heart-wrenching. This review discredits something that has the power and truth to enlighten America to the lack of democracy in our country and the corrupt system that's being spoon-fed by big oil.

See this film to educate yourself and you'll also be enjoying one intense and profound flick.