Deepwater Horizon: Intense drama around reality

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien

Rated: 6/10

The April 2010 British Petroleum rig fire has been tagged as the world’s worst environmental disaster in living memory. An unstable oil rig, off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, burst into flames after some greedy and unscrupulous BP officials decided to ignore safety issues and begin deepwater rigging for oil after keeping information from the captain.

The result was catastrophic. After the rigging pipe exploded, spewing oil, water and mud, 11 crewmen died in the unrelenting blaze and the rest fought a courageous battle for survival. The flames could not be brought into control and remained ablaze for 87 days. Almost all the marine life in the area perished and the atmosphere turned asphyxiating.  The damage, experts say, has been irreparable.

This fast-action film by director Peter Berg, encapsulates those tense moments with finesse as unrelenting as the blaze that dominates the film. The drama is never overdone so the story is never over-cooked. Berg plays well with the elements at hand and sticks to the tragedy as it was. This gives the film an edgy reality that keeps the audience in thrall despite most of the film being handled with a shaky camera and lots of smoke and fire.

Helmed by Kurt Russell (the skipper of the rig) and Mark Wahlberg playing Mike Williams, the electronics engineer aboard, Deepwater Horizon is one cinematic effort everyone needs to be with and appreciate. To call it a thriller would be insensitive to the issue at hand but to categorise it in any other way would be a cinematic blunder. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, December 11, 2016