Flow: For Love of Water

This scattershot documentary takes on, among other topics, water pollution, the privatization of the global water supply, the safety of bottled water, the adverse effects of dam building and the imminent global water shortage, which one commentator ominously predicts could lead to the world’s “sixth great mass extinction.” This declaration is unfortunately typical of Flow’s overall tone, and the fatal lack of focus guarantees that few are likely to be persuaded by its diatribes against Big Water, delivered by a cast of grim-faced activists. Flow touches on a number of legitimate issues, but far too much of the film indulges in the sort of shrill alarmism that gives environmentalism a bad name.