KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
Will the historians of the future refer to the century that began in 1950 as the time of the oil wars? That's one of many sobering conclusions to be drawn from this measured and thought-provoking documentary whose subordinate title - Oil Crash - leaves us in no doubt where it's heading.
The hunger for oil has driven most modern international conflict, the film persuasively demonstrates, and the increasing tension between our appetite for dwindling deposits and the fact that most oil is in areas of political instability makes it likely that oil will be paid for in blood for a while to come.
The film, which had an outing in the 2006 festivals, doesn't attempt a comprehensive survey of the energy challenges facing the planet: indeed the blithe hope that biofuels or hydrogen will save us from the oil crash is given short shrift.
Rather it assembles a frightening portrait of what is going to happen when the oil runs out - an eventuality predicted in the 1950s and wilfully ignored ever since. The consensus seems to be that it is way past the time when we can avoid economic calamity as the price of our unpreparedness. It may not be too late to avoid complete catastrophe, the film suggests. But it soon will be.
Directors: Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack Running time: 85 minutes
Rating: G
Screening: Academy
Verdict: Sobering, measured documentary about the inevitable end of oil.
