The Great Invisible

The apocalyptic image of a drilling platform, its monstrous framework engulfed in flames, a black curtain of smoke, surrounded by an irrationally placid sky and water, burns onto the screen in the middle of The Great Invisible in an awesome visualization of the film’s thematic axis. The oil spill that took place on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico is considered the biggest environmental disaster in American history. Documentary filmmaker Margaret Brown endeavors to depict the event from many points of view. She interviews platform employees and their families still dealing with physical and psychological ailments. She visits cities whose environment and economies suffered extensively and she ganders at BP, the petrochemical giant that owned the feral platform. It all combines to produce an image of a country in crisis and a civilization so hooked on oil it has poison running through its veins.