The documentary FLINT by filmmaker Anthony Baxter (You’ve Been Trumped, A Dangerous Game) aires on 1 December at 10pm on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer nationwide thereafter.
The 1 hour 54 minute feature is described as “the gripping story of the largest water poisoning disaster in American history, as seen through the eyes of the people of Flint, Michigan, whose health and lives have been shattered.” According to advance publicity, “It exposes the power battles and political failures that leave the people of Flint – a majority of whom are African-American – drinking contaminated water rejected by the local General Motors car factory because it corrodes car parts.”
The makers of the film have provided a synopsis:
“Five years in the making FLINT is the story of one of the worst man-made disasters in American history. Flint was one of the most prosperous cities in the world as the birthplace of General Motors, but its industrial heyday was long gone when the then Michigan Governor presided over a move to get the water supply from the local polluted river, rather than the Great Lakes, to save money.”
“With brown water coming out of many of their taps, locals started reporting alarming and worrying illnesses. And a campaign was begun to get the water supply changed.”
“This documentary film, made by Montrose Pictures, is however a surprising story with more twists than a river. Along the way there is Hollywood support for the plight of the Flint residents from film star Mark Ruffalo and narrator Alec Baldwin steps from behind the mic to go on camera and visit local residents.”
“There is a welcome win for the local people as the water supply is changed back, but the corrosive Flint water – which hadn’t been properly treated – had eaten into the city’s old pipes unleashing lead particles through the drinking water supply, potentially affecting the bloodstream of thousands of children. According to a study by a leading local paediatrician, this has left many with permanent damage to their brains and reproductive systems.”
“As the local people try to find out the truth of the situation, one adviser – previously lauded by the campaigners – goes over to ‘the other side’ in the government camp, and the findings of another are queried. And the question for local people at the heart of it all is who can they trust and who cares about what happens to them?”
You can watch the trailer: here.
