What Lies Upstream

Make no mistake, What Lies Upstream is an important film that explains in explicit detail the harm American citizens endure due to the water and land that we need for daily survival. The film goes to great lengths to show that the microcosm taking place in West Virginia is but a window of every community within the United States-that the representing Government and all entities associated with it do not work for the people and are self-serving and will disregard the well-being of its citizens for the greater good that is the American dollar.

Although the powerful message and visuals of What Lies Upstream can be contributed to Cullen Hoback(writer,director, producer, editor, stunt coordinator), what holds this film back from being a great film can be contributed to Cullen Hoback(narrator, interviewer). As previously mentioned, the subject of this film affects every American citizen and there are extremely dire consequences we all fill face, yet the mood and the tone and the delivery of Cullen Hoback is one of meekness-I was really hoping one of the subjects he was questioning would have responded with an angry, loud voice....as I anticipated Cullen Hoback would have shrieked and run from the room; alas, that did not happen. There was no fire coming from Cullen Hoback, no sense of urgency, all delivered in the same monotone voice for 85 minutes of the film. With each shocking revelation, and no matter how loud I screamed at the screen for Cullen Hoback to 'get in their face', the only mood that could be mustered was 'ho-hum'.

I highly recommend this film to everyone who wishes to solidify their belief that every faction of American government is just pure evil. I also strongly suggest Cullen Hoback take a few courses on how to express passion.