Back in 20th April 2010, the largest accidental oil spill in history took place in the Gulf of Mexico leading to one of the largest environmental disasters in the world.
An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil were discharged into the ocean in the 3 months that it took to plug the leak. Even at today’s low oil price of say $46 per barrel, that adds up to about $225 million in dollar terms.
The real cost to that accident though wasn’t the money. It was the 11 lives lost on the Deepwater Horizon when it happened and the damage to the environment.
The aftermath of it (and I quote from Wikipedia):
- Oil cleanup crews worked four days a week on 55 miles of Louisiana shoreline throughout 2013. Oil continued to be found as far as the Maconda site as the waters off the Florida Panhandle and Tampa Bay.
- Dolphins and other marine life continued to die in record numbers with infant dolphins dying at six times the normal rate.
- Tuna and amberjack that were exposed to oil from the spill developed deformities of the heart and other organs that would be expected to be fatal or life shortening
Last year, BP which operated the rig was fined $18.7 billion, the largest corporate settlement in US history.
The movie Deepwater Horizon that just came out is the story of the people on the rig and how the accident happened. So when my friend Stephanie from GSC engaged me to go watch the movie and write about it, I jumped at watching what is now an event that will go into our history books.
The movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, John Malkovich and Kurt Russell. Yep I said Kurt Russell. When I first saw him on screen I was like “This guy looks soooo familiar!” and it’s only when I IMDB’ed it at the end that I realized it was action hero Kurt Russell.
The verdict for me: I loved it.
Here’s why:
- The characters: This is one of the movies that told the story of not just one hero but of a group of people. So how the character development was done took some care and I think they nailed it. By the end of the movie I felt for the characters in the movie, sympathized with them for being in that situation and found myself cheering for them to get through it.
- How an oil rig works: This is the first movie I’ve seen that gives me a real insight of how life on an oil rig is like. What they do and how things work. Sure the movie Armageddon had an oil rig scene but that doesn’t really count as “life on an oil rig” if you know what I mean.
- How they explained what happened: My friend Zhon works for an oil company and spends a good amount of time on oil rigs. When I told him about this movie he said he was eager to watch it because he wanted to know how they would explain why the accident happened (which is very very technical) in very layman terms. This they nailed. I found it very creative how they went about explaining what they did and why each thing happened in different ways – Beyond just having characters talking. Sure you still really have to listen out and pay close attention to get it but I feel like I got what they were saying.
All in all I really liked this movie and I would really encourage everyone to watch it if they have the time. I’ve come to a stage where movies with just fancy special effects and explosions after explosions don’t quite do it for me anymore. What does it for me are movies with real stories and/or cover historical events. Deepwater Horizon meets all that and throws in great special effects too.
The movie is out in cinemas this week so go check it out.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space