Rent Watermark (2013)

Watermark review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

A visually captivating documentary Watermark details – and this word is particularly key to the film at large – the impact of water upon humanity. A dyed in the wool environmentalist and slightly animal mad vegetarian I would normally expect to absolutely adore Watermark however the poor use of context, verbal content and general detail distract from the powerful visuals that, in many ways, speak for themselves.

It is almost as though co-directors, Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky were not quite sure what tone they wished their film to take, this is far from an earth shattering depiction of the immense power of nature, nor is it a deep and considered look into the detrimental impact of mankind on the natural environment, whilst it also fails to be a historical or geographical exploration of the changing ‘landscape’ of Earth’s water.

It attempts in a strange way to be all and none of these things, supplying us with uninspiring information at times, whilst at others overloading us with detail, all the while undercutting every single word spoken with breath taking images of water, and in many cases, the absence of it.

It may surprise you then that I have given Watermark four stars, this comes however from my accidental second watching of the DVD (though the film was only released in UK theatres two weeks ago) without the sound on, where I found myself even more impressed – almost overwhelming so in fact, the stock images in this review do not do the film justice – by the visual element of the documentary. Had Baichwal and Burtynsky let the camera do all the talking and Watermark would have been far, far better.