Cinequest presents Out of Balance: Exxon Mobil’s Impact on Climate Change, written and directed by Tom Jackson. The film is produced by Joe Public Films, LLC and runs 65 minutes.
Hoping to point the finger of blame for global warning squarely at Exxon Mobile, writer/director Tom Jackson presents his case with backing from experts in the field.
With all due respect to Mr. Jackson, he might have started with an outline that would support his idea that Exxon Mobile is the largest contributor to the global warming problem. Out of Balance jumps around from topic to topic, pulling in clips of experts with their supporting interviews. It is a hodgepodge of data that is presented more as a pile of information then a compelling argument. While notable scientists are interviewed and all are identified, less than 50% of the interview clips were the scientists - I counted about 106 interview clips of which about 67 were either authors/writers (about 33) or environmental group representatives (about 34). On four occasions, it was clear from the film presentation that the interview had been edited to present the desired spoken content. A letter to the War Department dated July, 1941 is used as evidence that Standard Oil sold oil to the German government “well into 1944”.
How ironic can it be that the first film I viewed after Out of Balance was David Copperfield presented by the BBC and “Exxon Mobile Masterpiece Theater”?
Out of Balance starts with the director stating: “Global warming is real.” As mentioned above, Mr. Jackson uses over a hundred interview snips to support this thesis as well as the one that Exxon Mobile is largely to blame for global warming. All of these snips failed to be organized in such a way so as to convince me that global warming is even the result of human activities, let alone that Exxon Mobile is the big bad guy in all of this. Intermixed with all these interview snips are Mr. Jackson’s own statements of support and commentary.
The film, based on the interviews presented, appears to be more a rant against capitalism then an argument about environmental responsibility. What a surprise, a corporation in a capitalist economy is more interested in its bottom line then the well being of those in the path to its riches. Who Killed the Electric Car presents much more responsible parties than does Out of Balance – their primary guilty parties were the Government (primarily the Bush Administration) and the People (yes, all of us) for not standing by regulation that could have made a successful product acceptable on a large scale.
The Wages of Fear is much more effective at showing the disregard Standard Oil (the implied company in the film) had for human life and the environment. In defense of Mr. Jackson, this is a huge topic and I fear that even if the presentation had been organized and concise, 65 minutes would not be enough time to make a compelling argument. This is an issue that is clearly important enough for representation in film and to a broad audience. However, I’m afraid it needs better representation than given in Out of Balance.