DVD Review: "Mine Your Own Business" (2007)

Not too long ago, my good friend David over at Out In the Parking Lot reviewed a documentary, "Manufacturing Dissent", which takes America's phoniest filmmaker to task. In the Comments section, another pal, the Webber, agreed with David's take on the flick and said that if "Manufacturing Dissent" makes it to your town, readers ought to go.

Therein lies a key problem.

It probably won't make it to most people's towns, because the film world - art houses specifically - is anchored firmly on the left side of the political spectrum. This is why a few fellas and I decided to start up the Free Thinking Film Society here in Ottawa. The showing of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" drew a healthy number of people to the Ottawa Public Library on a cold Monday night in late January, so we're following that up with "Mine Your Own Business", an hour-long investigation into the dark side of environmentalism.

In "Mine", an Irish filmmaker by the name of Phelim McAleer exposes the duplicity, propaganda, elitism, and anti-growth agenda that underpins some elements of the modern environmental movement. First, he travels to Romania where he takes a look at the attempt by a multinational corporation to transition a closed-up, polluting state-run mine from the Iron Curtain era to a new privately-owned gold-producing facility, and as McAleer soon finds out, environmental paternalists from other countries in Europe attempt to halt those efforts despite the local townspeople crying out for something - anything - to lift them out of poverty. During his travels in Romania, McAleer meets George, a twenty-something youth who lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his parents and five brothers and sisters.

McAleer and George then travel together to Madagascar to take a look at another example of eco-imperialists trying to prevent economic development from taking place. Here, another private mining company is attempting to invest $600 million in an impoverished seaside fishing community. Over 2,000 jobs are expected to be created along with a myriad number of infrastructure improvements as well, and despite hiring a former activist with CARE to make the case for development, the company can't sway other Greenpeace-esque NGO officials who have been fighting the proposal for 15 years, obtaining luxury homes and catamarans along the way while the locals have neither a steady income nor suitable housing.

Lastly, the two friends travel to Chile where another mine is under development over the objections of London-based do-gooders who admit that they've never been to the site but still find themselves able to pontificate about maintaining the locals' unique sense of spirituality (as 27,000 of those same locals apply for the 5,000 jobs the enterprise will create).

All of the locals are interviewed and all of them are in opposition to the perspectives espoused by the eco-imperialists, who insist that they know what's best for the people who live in these communities. So much for cultural affirmation and self-determination, I suppose. What is particularly galling is the moralizing lecture delivered by an American do-gooder in Madagascar to George about the nature of real wealth and the definition of poverty - this, to a fellow who doesn't have indoor plumbing at home!

Everyone who is interested in both the issue itself and honest debate for fairness' sake ought to take a look at "Mine Your Own Business", but don't expect to see it playing alongside "An Inconvenient Truth" anytime soon as part of a double bill at your local independent cinema. Luckily, interested people in Ottawa who want to check it out can do so by coming to the main branch of the Ottawa Public Library at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, May 29 where this will be showing at a cost of $6.00.

Keep an eye on this space for future announcements concerning the Free-Thinking Film Society, and challenge yourself to take in some unconventional media voices offering fresh perspectives which you might not agree with but will certainly leave you with something to take away.

Overall rating: 8/10