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Lords of Water

Lords of Water

2019

Director

Jérôme Fritel

Runtime

88 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

Synopsis

They call it ’blue gold.’ Around the world, demand for water is exploding. By 2050, at least one in four will live in a country suffering from water shortages - creating ideal conditions for a new market. Goldman Sachs, HSBC, UBS, Allianz, Deutsche Bank, BNP. Banks, investment funds and hedge funds are all rushing to invest billions of euros in anything related to water. A real monopoly of water has begun. From California to Australia, from New York to London via Marseille, we investigate the financialization of water. New power relations are being established and access to water is being threatened. It’s a battle taking place on many fronts: ideological, political, environmental, and of course, economic. The fate of nearly 10 billion inhabitants around the world depends on its outcome.

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Diversity & Representation

Overall Score

6.5/10

Good

Category Breakdown

LGBTQ+ Representation

Fair

The film focuses on macro-economic shifts and institutional power dynamics. It does not feature queer-coded character arcs or engage with LGBTQ+ identities.

Gender Representation

Fair

While the film provides a platform for diverse experts, the primary actors are large-scale financial institutions. It focuses on class and resource access rather than gender hierarchies.

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Good

The global scope highlights how water scarcity affects the Global South. The film prioritizes the perspectives of vulnerable, non-Western subjects facing systemic resource shifts.

Religious & Cultural Diversity

Excellent

The narrative adopts a post-colonial perspective by critiquing Western financial hegemony. It frames the 'blue gold' rush as a threat to collective human survival.

Disability Representation

Fair

Disability is not a central narrative driver or a primary lens of analysis. The film does not provide specific portrayals of neurodivergence or physical disability.

Strengths

  • Provides high agency to non-Western subjects and vulnerable communities.
  • Adopts a strong post-colonial perspective against Western financial hegemony.
  • Effectively critiques the systemic impact of global capitalism on human rights.

Areas for Improvement

  • Lacks specific focus on gender hierarchies or the subversion of patriarchal structures.
  • Does not engage with LGBTQ+ identities or queer-coded narratives.
  • Provides no specific representation or analysis regarding disability or neurodivergence.

AI Analysis

Lords of Water succeeds as a systemic critique of global hierarchies. It moves beyond individual identity politics to examine how corporate interests clash with human necessity. By investigating the financialization of water, the film challenges the dominance of Western market-driven ideologies. The documentary's strength lies in its global investigative lens. It provides agency to those in the Global South and marginalized communities most affected by resource monopolization. This creates a narrative that prioritizes the survival of humanity over capital accumulation. However, the film remains largely neutral regarding specific identity-based narratives. It does not explicitly center on gender subversion or LGBTQ+ representation, as its primary focus is the intersection of economics and environmental policy.

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