REVIEW: ‘Flint’s Deadly Water’ on DVD from PBS
Image courtesy of PBS / Provided by Pressroom with permission.
Flint’s Deadly Water, a new one-hour documentary from Frontline on PBS, is a scary tale of what happens when the government does not put its people and their health at the forefront of policy and decision-making. The lead poisoning of children in Flint, Michigan, grabbed headlines a few years ago, yet few people have been held accountable for the incidents that led to the poisoning and a simultaneous outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease.
In the relatively quick 60 minutes of this documentary, writer-director Abby Ellis decides to focus more on the Legionnaire’s outbreak than the lead poisoning; however, both strains of the story are tied to the water supply of Flint. During the water crisis, bacteria made their way into the homes of many local families, causing horrible sickness and sometimes even death.
Some of the film’s content is a recap of the headlines and investigations of what happened and how the government and academic researchers responded. However, the Frontline episode smartly goes deeper by asking even more difficult questions and connecting even more dots.
For example, the documentary team amassed data on everyone in Flint who died from pneumonia during the water crisis. Their working thesis was that some of these cases were actually misdiagnosed, and in fact Legionnaire’s may have been to blame. The findings of the team are quite revealing and speak to the importance of independent investigative journalism — a journalism that does not solely rely on the work of the government and health officials to find the answers.
The team behind Flint’s Deadly Water also chooses one personal story to follow, which allows them to put a human face on the pain and suffering endured by the community. A young woman’s ordeal after being diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease takes center stage, and the resulting tale is horrifying and saddening. It’s difficult to watch how she was wronged by so many people, and what happened to her quality of life. It becomes obvious that the community put their trust in a public utility that was sending out “deadly water.”
There were times during the Frontline episode, which is now available on DVD, when it felt like the filmmaker was neglecting the lead poisoning side of the story. That’s not to say that the Legionnaire’s angle, which is massively underreported, doesn’t deserve its own spotlight. However, with so many connections between these two deadly storylines, more time could have been spent on seeing how the two correlated with each other.
To be expected, many state officials in Michigan refused to be interviewed for the camera. One sent in a comment through his attorney. This lack of response is infuriating, and the uncertainty over future prosecution makes for an unsettling conclusion to this story of a public health crisis.
Put simply, what happened in Flint should not be forgotten — if for no other reason than out of respect for those families whose lives were forever changed.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Flint’s Deadly Water (2019), a program of Frontline on PBS, is now available on DVD. Written and directed by Abby Ellis. Produced by Ellis and Kayla Ruble. Reporting by Ruble, Jacob Carah, Ellis and Sarah Childress. Rating: 
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