User reviews

The film is ok. The technologies shown are interesting and inspire some hope in the survival of the humanity, but the simplest and maybe the most important solution was not even mentioned. Ok, home filters of the "grey" water waste can save several thousand liters of water per month, but let's have a look at another example. The production cycle of just one liter of milk requires around a thousand liters of water; one burger patty requires several thousands liters. Just by switching to an oat or soy milk and ditching beef (and preferably all the meat) you will save enormous amounts of water, hundreds of thousands liters per year just in your household. We need to think globally. Water is used not only in our taps, but for all the products which we buy and we eat.

A number of these technologies are very interesting and promising, but the notion that they're a panacea, that the technology is all there and all that lacks is political will, investment and societal change is frankly false. The energy intensity of many of these solutions is a key problem that was not covered, whilst the prohibitive cost of installing and maintaining others, particularly in developing countries, was not really mentioned. Furthermore, the biggest anthropogenic uses of water, e.g. for irrigation, provide some of the greatest opportunities to reduce water use, so that using marginal sources to reach the very high levels of purity required for drinking may not be required. But innovations in irrigation which dwarf other savings were hardly mentioned at all. It's great to see this massive issue in the popular mainstream, and I credit the creators with achieving that, but a more thoroughly researched sequel would be helpful in due course.

This film tells us about inovative ways of conserving water, conjuring water where there is none and dealing with it once it becames waste.

Bias, unsupported with facts, eco-fanatics opinions...and opposition opinions not permitted. The involvement of these high profile celebrities is suspect, too. They've invested in these schemes, so from a perspective, it's an infomercial for their personal wealth.

There's *an identical* "documentary", "A Thirsty World" (2012), that gives the same message. Here we are, eight years after that one, and not one prediction has come to fruition. Actually, some have proven to be the exact opposite of the doom and gloom forecast.

Some nice scenery, if you have a large screen, but otherwise, you can watch with no volume

I recently watched this documentary with my family and kids over the weekend. I was eager to see what Matt Damon had to say about water!! All of my family enjoyed the film and learned something new including my 8 and 9 year old kids who have just informed me they would like to work in water!

The solutions presented were the right mix of science and story and the film really broke down some of the challenges in the water industry.

I hope there will be a Brave Blue part 2 or a series where they will go more into detail about each of the different areas within this complex industry.

(Beth's story was without doubt my favourite!)

I am a chemist, engineer, and water resource scientist. While I'm always happy to see a documentary raise awareness of water availability/quality issues, this documentary has a number of issues of its own.

First of all, the so-called 'solutions' being offered by its sprawling list of do-gooder celebrities are not innovative, novel, or sustainable. They're well-proven technologies putting temporary band-aids on deep sociopolitical problems for the sake of making their celebrity sponsors feel good.

Second, the film has a number of corporate sponsors. As a result, it failed to touch on some very real issues with the way we currently treat water. For example, Reverse Osmosis is disgustingly inefficient. It wastes about half the water it treats. It also absolute munches through power, and the waste stream from RO is a concentrated pollutant being shot back into the environment. But Suez, one of the sponsors, is a major player in RO and membrane desalination. So that got glossed over.

Third, it perpetuates the myth of a straight-up bogus technology. Humidity-condensers are not viable products. They've been debunked over and over and over again. The thermodynamics of converting whatever small amount of moisture is in the air to drinking water are enormous. And other than that lone instance of local innovation, the rest of the documentary reeks of western-savior complex.

This documentary is mental candy. Replaces real nutrition, and is bad for your teeth (from all the clenching).

As a water industry professional I am relieved that we finally have a well produced documentary to explain somewhat our industry, the challenges and the importance of water to the general public

I waited in anticipation of the Documentary to come out and I was not let down. The documentary in captivating, cinematic and communicates science through the lives of the characters in the story. My only complaint is that the documentary isn't longer so we could have gone more in depth into each story.

I will most certainly be sharing this with my colleagues, neighbours, family and friends.

Thank you Brave Blue World!!

I was shocked by how badly this film was put together. From the way it's edited, to the choice of music (and how it's laid into the film), to the cheesy introduction shots of the contributors, the jump cuts and sound cuts (you literally hear the cuts during Matt Damon's interview), down to the way it's written: not just cheesy commentary, hyperboles, random links trying to stitch scenes together and things which are obviously been written without even looking at the film (There's a hilarious moment where the commentary says "this man is... etc etc..etc... " over the shot of the sky. We only see the "man" in question after a few seconds. That's film-making 101). The most impressive vistas are actually stock shots (I even recognised some from the Shutterstock Library). It is disjointed and confused, cheesy, one-sided and simplistic, but I suppose the core message is probably what counts here (and how they were able to get people like Matt Damon and Liam Neeson), which is also why I'm not giving it 1 star. There are some interesting snippets here and there and however badly the film is made, it does paint a promising picture of how new technologies are helping us to manage, clean and re-use our water. It's a shame that such an important message was only able to get such a bad piece of film-making. Even more astonishing that it currently has 7.3 on imdb.

'It never ceases to amaze when the critics come out to play. I just can't figure out why they've zeroed in on a *positive* piece as this. It's astounding. I'd normally ignore yet I know for a fact - human nature dictates - there's hundreds of positive folk for each 'hater' (scientific or bias accuser) up here. Yes, I get that there's DuPont and others. I concur the big players are not playing well. Yet, we collectively must (must!) work towards the good stuff.

As far as I'm aware this is an optimistic look at the options. I commend the makers and I too am biased, I've known of this in the works for years. I am thrilled it's out there and moreover grateful, to cut-through the chat and get the new message to the new scientist who will over time weed out the institutionalized neg-heads. Sorry to sound crass or cruel, I don't mean to. But the gentle whiff of positivity needs to be encouraged and protected. Go make your own documentary and let me know and I'll support you all the way. Meantime, please treat this one as a 'asks the right questions' piece, that let's remember has really make it to the mainstream, as this has! A piece of work to inspire and hopefully to lead by! Congratulations!''

Several testimonials, including some from some Hollywood celebrities, about their views and solutions on how to solve the global water crisis.

I never thought I would find a doc. about helping planet Earth and its population bad, until I saw this.

It is an absolute chaos, starting with inconsistencies about what is said by each interlocutor, to gross editing errors, like the images (it is at the level of hearing aid ads or telemarketing about smoothies machines) to the sound and the terrible choice of the soundtrack, but above all, for not giving us anything relevant to retain on such an important subject.

When dairy or meat production industries are not mentioned once, pretty much everything is said about the purpose of this "documentary".

Worth a few points for references to a couple of technologies that in the future may help solving the problem, but not right now.

When thinking about water scarcity and the quality of our water, scary and negative headlines come to mind. This documentary shows how technology can be used to address these water related problems and highlights that water issues are solvable. I hope that it can inspire a new generation of water scientists and engineers.

Full of vaporware tech. It was painful to watch. So many contradictions between chapters. The odd chapters was interesting just to see existing industrial complex but mostly awful. And the narrative was just silly. How is this 7+ stars.

The visuals are spectacular. Very inspiring documentary. This is the first water documentary that I watched and I truly loved it. I appreciate the efforts put by the production team in traveling all across the globe and bringing the top companies and experts on a common platform. It was great to see how small startups are coming up with innovative technologies to solve the water crisis problem.

You should certainly encourage your kids to watch this kind of documentary to understand the global water crisis and ways how can we tackle it.

What a disappointing documentary, almost high-school level. In summary: it's a bunch of celebrities - and sometimes experts too - rehashing clichés with feel-good elevator music.

What's the point to all these? What are the challenges here? There must be a reason why despite all the breakthroughs and ideas we're still not great at conserving/recycling clean water? What's the urgency here (I truly realize it's extremely urgent, mind you), but I believe the sentiment that most of the audience will get upon finishing the show is just, "oh another great Chicken Soup for the Soul story, going to bed now."

It's a dire situation that we live in, can Americans stop sugarcoating everything? It's as if the world will just get better by itself if we watch another Disney-like show. Also, for the celebrities, heed your own advice? How much water do you waste at your mansions, honestly?

My 3 stars are awarded for merely raising the water scarcity and sanitation issue. However, I'm not sure if the content actually does more good or harm on the public's awareness of it.

I think this is a very well made, short documentary that is definitely worth watching. I find it educational, moving and inspiring.

Although water crisis/ sanitation are not new topics, instead of focusing on the depressing side, Brave Blue World brings hope through introducing different new social/ technological solutions. And I appreciate Brave Blue World features experts from the water industry, people who are living in difficult conditions, technology inventors who actually know the problems.

I would love to see more people making documentary/ films on these important topics - water, global warming, resources running out etc

The movie shows the possibilities among the very real challenges facing the world's water resources. I'm a environmental engineer who has worked all over the world. While the celebrity cameos are good for gaining attention, the real stars are the water professionals and their passion. The documentary is less than one hour long, so not every type of solution can be shown. There are some slick technologies and low tech, too, but all are shown to keep the interest. As a pro in the field, some of the great solutions don't make for good video. There were some big companies that helped fund the movie, but I know it was a grassroots effort from water professionals and someone has to pay for the filmmakers. The important thing this movie does is show that while we face a crisis, we can solve it, if we want to.

I know there's nothing to see. When I see a documentary, I expect to learn from someone who studies, works, lives the subject, not a celebrity who know next to nothing but try to present themselves otherwise. When I saw someone like Jaden Smith, my hope just dies. What a waste of the subject.

This is a great movie to introduce basic concepts of how people manage water today, and how technology can provide a better way.

I could only stand watching the first 5 minutes, then I just skipped forward to confirm what I suspected... yes, the entire movie consists of talking heads on top of background "emotional music" and stock footage.

It's really a shame, because the topic seems like a ticking time bomb that's lurking in the shadows of global warming and other more "famous" problems.

There are much better documentaries on the subject. This just felt like an intro to a "History channel" documentary or something.

My only critique of this documentary is that it was short (60 minutes), which didn't allow for deeper detail on the technologies discussed. I would like to see a Brave Blue World Series where the technologies addressing the crisis are broken out episode.

I shared the documentary with my company's intern class in December 2020. They enjoyed the film and likely it was the first time they have thought about water outside of simple wastewater treatment, ocean clean up or recycling.

The solutions presented were the ideal mix of science and story and the film broke down many of the challenges in the water industry.

I have recently learned there will be a Brave Blue 2.0 feature or a series where they may be able to dive deeper into detail about each of the different areas within this complex industry - in 2022.

I am hopeful this is true and not a rumor.

I feel as though this documentary was really surface level, spending about 5 minutes on each segment. I would have loved a deep dive into a few of the developments rather than skim through a lot. The old fashioned notion of quality over quantity would have benefited this documentary.

I think this is an important topic, one that needs to be thoroughly covered. I appreciate the film bringing the topic to light and giving it attention. Hopefully some high quality informative content can follow this in the future.

The water crisis/ sanitation are not new topics, Brave Blue World brings new hope to the subject through introducing new technology solutions. The experts from the industry, people who understand difficult conditions, technology inventors added high credibility. Highly recommend viewing this important film.

Study what we use water for, and how much, for example milk, beef, chicken, turkey, pigs, advocados, almond, avoid these stuff and you will have enough water for next 5000 years. If you don't you will run out of water in 15-20 years. (only few countries will have water like saudi arabia that cleans ocean water with high tech and cost alot fo money but they can affoard it.