The entire system has been manipulated. They want us to think that the system will protect us, but that is a lie. It is we who protect ourselves. ——"Black Water"
01
"Black Water" is produced by Participant Media and is adapted from the real incident of DuPont's decades-long chemical pollution scam exposed by lawyer Robert Billot. It is worth mentioning that movies adapted from social events such as "American Factory" and "Focus" are all produced by this company.
The film restores the event to a very high degree, making its practical significance far greater than the film art itself.
In 1938, DuPont, a Fortune 500 company, accidentally invented polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), the Chinese name Teflon. Because of its super stable chemical properties, it has been dubbed the "King of Plastics" and is widely used in fields such as atomic energy, national defense, aerospace, and electronic construction.
In 1954, DuPont Group began to use Teflon to make non-stick pans, which became its most profitable project for a while.
The really toxic substance is not Teflon but PFOA (perfluorooctanoate), which is an additive added during the polymerization reaction of making Teflon, not a raw material for the synthesis of Teflon.
02
Most of the pictures in the film use a cold blue tone, and a large number of subjective shots are used to stay in newspapers, book pages, and photos to reflect the complexity and difficulty of Robert's investigation and evidence collection.
The film spans more than ten years, the atmosphere is heavy, the sense of oppression is very strong, and the large number of survey figures is shocking.
Putting aside the inherent classification of movie genres, this is a social horror movie.
Robert wasted 20 years of his time for this long prosecution, damaged his health, stayed away from his family, and was even attacked by the public.
The scientific investigation team is vague about the pollutant standards, the government tried to get Robert to abandon the prosecution through various pressures, and DuPont broke the treaty openly without accountability.
In the end, the fines and compensation paid by DuPont was far less than the one-year profit. Today it is still a Fortune 500 company, and it seems that this incident has no effect on it.
At the end of the film, the audience will not even feel the joy of justice and victory, but more of the helplessness and sorrow of Robert's mixed tastes.
The government needs the economic benefits of large companies, and the people need the government to protect their rights and interests. How to choose? Maybe there is an answer.
03
Movies are the greatest recorders and witnesses of human society. After seeing "Blackwater" and "Focus", I can't help but applaud these people who still value the significance of film recording.
Realistic movies that personally confront the system are common in South Korea and the United States, but such movies are rare in China.
I thought "I'm Not the God of Medicine" would be the beginning, but now it seems to be the end.
Of course, too much criticism of Chinese filmmakers will not promote Chinese films. How the censorship system is reformed and when the film classification will be implemented may really change the status quo.
Even if dancing with shackles, I hope Chinese filmmakers can dance beautifully.
04
In recent years, my country has built a number of large-scale fluorochemical bases, and the world's major fluorochemical giants have also built fluoropolymer production facilities in China. The rapid development of the fluorine chemical industry has led to a large number of applications and emissions of PFOA/PFO in China in the past few years. Studies have shown that China’s annual environmental emissions of PFOA/PFO have increased from nearly 20 tons/year in 2004 to more than 50 tons/year in 2012, exceeding the total emissions of developed countries such as Europe and the United States. According to the current state of fluorine chemical production and pollution control measures in various countries in the world, it is estimated that the total emissions of PFOA/PFO in the world from 2005 to 2050 may be between 475 tons and 950 tons, most of which will come from China. China currently does not have a specific control policy for PFOA/PFO environmental risks.
In the past ten years, Europe and the Americas have phased out PFOA, and the international convention "Stockholm Convention" has also gradually blacklisted C8 pollutants (including PFOA and PFOS). Although China is also one of the signatories of the Convention, as a major chemical country, it has already taken over as the largest country in production.
In China, C8 levels in river soil, food, and human bodies have been detected to exceed the standard in many places.
However, the public knows very little, and there are no environmental quality standards, emission standards, and testing technical specifications at the national level, and environmental monitoring has not even been carried out.
Since we live within the system of the country, we have no reason to attack or discriminate against it, but it is not too late to make up for it. Perhaps the first step should be to uncover the problem.
These facts are well known.
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