On April 20th of 2010, an explosion on the oil rig Deepwater Horizon approximately 41 miles (66 kilometers) off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico became the largest marine oil spill in history. The rig would sink two days later. Eleven workers would die with another 17 injured. The movie Deepwater Horizon (2016) was released in the fall of 2016.
(Mark Wahlberg as Mike Williams)
Mark Wahlberg stars as Chief Electronics Technician Mike Williams in the movie. His character is among the first introduced in the movie. As he is flown onto the oil rig Deepwater Horizon, he is shown questioning the installation of the concrete and nitrogen fortification that is meant to make the extraction of the deposit below the sea floor.
(Kurt Russell as Jimmy Harrell)
Kurt Russell as Offshore Information Manager Jimmy Harrell shared similar concerns over the stability of the extraction system. Harrell was chiefly pitted against British Petroleum Supervisor Donald J. Vidrine, as portrayed by John Malkovich, in pushing the safety or profitability angle within the movie.
(John Malkovich as Donald J. Vidrine)
In my humble opinion, the movie aimed to be fair in depicting some of the competing motivations within this debate for whether extracting oil/natural gas was legitimate in the situation aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig. Criticism that the movie does not cover the full complexity of the situation is raised by University of Texas at Austin Professor of Petroleum Engineering Eric van Oort here.
The oil rig Deepwater Horizon was a marine vessel in the sea. As such, the vessel is piloted by Dynamic Positioning Operator Andrea Fleytas, a role portrayed by Gina Rodriguez in the movie.
(Gina Rodriguez as Andrea Fleytas)
The overall story felt even-handed in addressing the larger facts of the fact that the drilling in this case was questionable. It felt that the underlying facts were addressed in such a fashion as not to blame as much as to demonstrate the underlying realities at a level understandable to the film viewing public.
(The Deepwater Horizon memorial Eleven in New Orleans, Louisiana)
The movie has some depth to it, and explicates the story of the explosion. The loss of life as well as the oil spill was a tragedy. That this was reportedly at least the second such well explosion of this nature is definitely a shame. That I came away with a desire to understand this event better after watching the movie Deepwater Horizon speaks to my ability to recommend this movie.
Matt – Saturday, September 8, 2018
Matt Lynn Digital 