DamNation

In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed his great admiration and pride for the opening of the Hoover Dam in the Colorado River – the biggest dam in the world at the time. The plan was to build thousands more dams throughout the United States, and by 2013 there were 75,371 of them. “We took it too far,” says director Ben Knight, the narrator of the film who gets involved in the heated debate on whether or not to preserve existing dams. Knight’s investigation takes him all over the country, where he interviews fanatical opponents and proponents, and documents the recent demolition of large dams. There is the Elwha Dam, where after the $300-million demolition people become emotional at the sight of salmon swimming in their river again. And the still-standing Glen Canyon Dam, which was built in the 1950s and destroyed a magnificent natural setting and its archaeological treasures. Supported by voice-over, the interviews are interspersed with impressive nature shots, archive footage showing both the glory and calamity associated with dam construction, animations of nocturnal operations by environmental activists, and personal videos from Knight, who also puts to the test the safety and the recreational qualities of Snake River, which has been built up with many dams.