''Oil on Ice'' is a 2004 documentary film directed by Bo Boudart and Dale Djerassi. It explores the
Arctic Refuge drilling controversy
The question of whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been an ongoing political controversy in the United States since 1977. As of 2017, Republicans have attempted to allow drilling in ANWR almost fifty time ...
in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildlife ...
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''.
Cast
The film was narrated by
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...
and features interviews with and footage of
environmentalists
An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
Amory Lovins
Amory Bloch Lovins (born November 13, 1947) is an American writer, physicist, and former chairman/chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written on energy policy and related areas for four decades, and served on the US Nationa ...
,
Celia Hunter
Celia Hunter (January 13, 1919 – December 1, 2001) was an American environmentalist and conservationist. She was conferred the highest award by the Sierra Club, The John Muir Award, in 1991. She was presented the highest award by the Wilde ...
,
Sarah James
Sarah Agnes James (born 1946) is a native Neets'aii Gwich'in from Arctic Village, Alaska, USA, and a board member of the ''International Indian Treaty Council''. She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2002,Goldman Environmental Prize" ...
,
Norma Kassi
Norma Kassi (born April 10, 1954) is a native Gwich'in from Yukon Territory, Canada, and a former member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly and former chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.Tony Knowles, former Alaska Senator
Ted Stevens
Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left o ...
, California Senator
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. ...
, former
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
director Carl Pope, Ken Whitten, David Klein, former
Fairbanks North Star Borough
The Fairbanks North Star Borough is a borough located in the state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,665, down from 97,581 in 2010.
The borough seat is Fairbanks. The borough's land area is slightly smaller than that o ...
Mayor
Jim Whitaker
Norris J. "Jim" Whitaker (born September 30, 1950) is an American politician of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party who served as mayor of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, from 2003 ...
, former
North Slope Borough
The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest city i ...
Mayor George N. Ahmaogak, and Inupiaq activist and former
Nuiqsut
Nuiqsut ( ik, Nuiqsat, ) is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 433 at the 2000 census and 402 as of the 2010 census.
Geography
Nuiqsut is located at (70.216338, -151.005725).
Nuiqsut is in the North Slop ...
mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak.
Production
''Oil on Ice'' was sponsored by Northern Alaska Environmental Center (NAEC) and was filmed on location in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, and
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
. To promote and market the film, Steve Michelson engaged fourteen non-profit organizations, including the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
, members of which hosted thousands of house parties to screen and distribute materials about the film, and to promote grassroots efforts to prevent ANWR drilling.
Release
The film premiered at
Mountainfilm in Telluride
Held every Memorial Day weekend since 1979, Mountainfilm is a documentary film festival that showcases nonfiction stories about environmental, cultural, climbing, political and social justice issues in Telluride, Colorado.
In 2000, Mountainfilm s ...
on May 31, 2004, and was released on DVD on September 6, 2005. The soundtrack CD ''Oil on Ice'' by
William Susman
William Joseph Susman (born August 29, 1960) is an American composer of concert and film music and a pianist. He has written orchestral and chamber music as well as documentary film scores.
Music
Susman's music is inspired by Afro-Cuban montuñ ...
, featuring cellist
Joan Jeanrenaud
Joan Jeanrenaud ( Dutcher; born January 25, 1956) is an American cellist. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, she played with the LLP Kronos Quartet from 1978 until 1999, when, after a sabbatical, she left to pursue a solo career and collaborations ...
, was released on October 16, 2007.
Reception
FilmCritic.com reviewer Eric Meyerson described the film as "unabashed counter-propaganda to the pro-drilling forces" seeking access to wilderness land. He credits its professional production and its "powerful story, with astonishing wildlife photography and fascinating and tragic tales of the plights of local fishermen and native tribes." Meyerson found the interviews with Gwich'in Indian Adeline Peter Raboff "particularly affecting." He noted that the film is "as one-sided as the ''
O'Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October ...
''" in that it "failed to address any positive economic impacts that the oil industry has had on Alaskans." But he termed the film "well-made counter-propaganda. If anything, ''Oil on Ice'' is worth seeing just to see exactly what ExxonMobil and CononcoPhillips are getting ready to tear into."
Russell Engebretson, writing for DVDVerdict, wrote of its "beautiful Alaskan wildlife cinematography, including one truly stunning shot of a grazing
Caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
herd that must have numbered in the thousands. For contrast, we get an aerial view of the massive, grotesque
Prudhoe Bay
Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people, up from just five residents in the 2000 census; however, at any give ...
drilling operation that abuts ANWR to the west." He noted that while the "wilderness scenery is delightful, there is ample interview material as well." Of the many interviewees, he found that two, Pope and Lovins, "drag down the film", and that Lovins "steers the film away from its central thesis — the exploitation of ANWR." Engebretson felt that the documentary erred in two ways: "by lionizing people who don't deserve such treatment", and "in presenting
ohn Ohn is a Burmese name, used by people from Myanmar. Notable people with the name include:
* Daw Ohn (1913–2003), Burmese professor in Pali
* Ohn Gyaw (born 1932), Burmese Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1998
* Ohn Kyaing (born 1944), Bur ...
Kerry as a foe of
Big Oil
Big Oil is a name used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors. The term, particularly in the United States, emphasizes their economic power and influence ...
". Summarizing, he found the film to be "a good, basic introduction (from an anti-drilling point-of-view) to the oil extraction debate."
Awards
''Oil on Ice'' received several awards: the 2004
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmm ...
''Pare Lorentz Award'' for best representing the "democratic sensibility, activist spirit and lyrical vision" of
Pare Lorentz
Pare Lorentz (December 11, 1905 – March 4, 1992) was an American filmmaker known for his film work about the New Deal. Born Leonard MacTaggart Lorentz in Clarksburg, West Virginia he was educated at Buckhannon High School, West Virginia Wesl ...
, the 2005 Missoula
International Wildlife Film Festival The International Wildlife Film Festival is a film festival held annually at the Roxy Theater in Missoula, Montana
Missoula ( ; fla, label= Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a ...
''Festival Prize'', the 2005
Moondance International Film Festival
The Moondance International Film Festival is an independent annual film festival and awards competition in the USA that takes place in the fall. The first Moondance Film Festival was held in 2000. The festival has usually been held in Boulder, Co ...
''Calypso Award'' for feature documentary and ''Seahorse Award'' for best film score, and the 2006 Park City Film Music Festival ''Gold Medal for Excellence'' in the category Documentary, Jury Choice: Best Impact of Music.Past Festivals Park City Film Music Festival.