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As the climate crisis worsens, there is a battle between those who want to squeeze as much profit from the Earth as possible and those fighting to protect the environment. In her debut feature documentary, "Gaslit," director Katie Camosy, along with producer and host Jane Fonda, travels to the Permian Basin in Texas and Louisiana to see firsthand the impact that the oil and gas industry is having on the local environment. The film is available on Prime Video and Kanopy.
While "Gaslit" is hosted by Jane Fonda, a long-time human-rights activist who has spent the past decade highlighting environmental justice, what really grabs your attention throughout the film is the focus on the locals who are fighting against the financial and political forces behind the oil and gas industry. Rather than using Fonda to tell these stories, she takes the back seat to those on the ground who are living daily with the effects of the drilling.
Visually, the film does an excellent job of showing what happens when these companies come in. Early in the movie, we visit a predominantly Black town that was promised jobs, but is now almost entirely abandoned. We see wide swaths of land that were once a verdant green, now reduced almost entirely to dust. In one moment, Fonda pulls out glasses that allow her to see the pollution being belched out by these factories in huge plumes of fumes.
This movie is also impressive in the way that it shows how nearly all of the oil and gas that is extracted here is not used for Americans. In fact, we see interviews with people in Europe who admit that they would never allow fracking due to the environmental havoc that it wreaks, but they still will take natural gas that was fracked in America. "Gaslit" doesn't pull any punches in showing how this industry hurts both American land and American people, while not putting money in the pockets of those most affected by it.
There are moments in "Gaslit" that feel very doom and gloom. When Fonda visits Cancer Alley in Louisiana, where the guide shares what kind of cancer nearly every resident has, it is hard to feel hopeful, knowing that so many are suffering the consequences of the national reliance on drilling. The film does highlight some ways that people are fighting back, but the biggest drawback is that there are fewer calls to action than one might hope for in a film that shines such a bright spotlight on the urgent problem of climate change.
Still, while the film can be upsetting, it is encouraging to see people from all walks of life taking part in the efforts to protect the environment, their professions, and, in some cases, their very lives. "Gaslit" doesn't offer easy answers to the crisis before us, but it does an incredible job of showing that the fight belongs to all of us, regardless of where we come from. This isn't simply the work of a celebrity like Jane Fonda, but of all of us who want to have a home for those coming after us.
Rating: 4/5
Alise Chaffins is a freelance and Tomatometer-approved film critic.