Her name: Sandra Steingraber. Her mission: To raise public awareness of various cancers and their probable environmental causes. A noble cause, this, but one that doesn't translate all that well into film.
At various moments, and for brief (albeit in feeling, overlong) periods, LIVING DOWNSTREAM seems to be more about Ms. Steingraber than her life's work, which is a shame. A shame because it's this woman's investigative efforts and research that ought to be the primary focus of the documentary. A shame, also, because for me Ms. Steingraber does not have enough of a screen presence to carry the length of this picture.
Many a time I found my mind wandering. As the mild and soft-spoken Ms. Steingraber does the narration, I think this intermittent wool-gathering of mine had a lot to do with the lulling nature of the subject's voice-over parlance. She speaks in a semi-monotone, which I found a bit snooze-inducing. As a speech-maker inside a lecture hall, behind a podium and with notes at her side, Ms. Steingraber is an articulate and forceful speaker, but absent of this setting, her way of speaking, as heard in the narration, lacks cadence, to an almost soporific degree.
There are bits and pieces and scraps of useful info, that if you are not fully awake you will in all likelihood miss. For example, once when I came to, there was something being said, having to do with the Baby Boomer generation and how it was around this time when external chemicals began showing up within the human bloodstream.
The big question, of course, which LIVING DOWNSTREAM primarily concerns itself with, is whether environmental factors are for the most part responsible for various forms of cancer. Certainly, there are genetic aspects to be taken into consideration, but that is not what this doc is in large part interested in.
In one scene, we are introduced to a male frog, of which it is said began to acquire the biological characteristics of a female, due to its having been exposed to a certain chemical. Elsewhere in the film, there is mention of cysts being discovered in beluga whales, believed to be the result of their having been exposed to industrial contaminants. During one speech, Ms. Steingraber discusses breast milk, and how this too is highly contaminated with environmental chemicals.
All in all, however, I cannot recommend LIVING DOWNSTREAM. I found it draggy and light on informational value. The film is somewhat shapelessly directed in my opinion, plays a little wispy, and left very little intellectual and emotional impression on me.
One thing I have never forgotten, though, is from my etymological studies. This being, how the term cancer is derived from the Greek word for crab. Apparently, cancer dates back all the way to the ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians; the latter, whose mummies were sometimes found with evidence of there having been tumors.
I wanted more of this -- you know, education. And less of the scenes showing Ms. Steingraber driving in her car, or jogging, or visiting relatives, or setting the kitchen table, or snuggling up with her husband and listening to her describe the time when she wore socks during surgery and how this had made her feel all warm and fuzzy.
At various moments, and for brief (albeit in feeling, overlong) periods, LIVING DOWNSTREAM seems to be more about Ms. Steingraber than her life's work, which is a shame. A shame because it's this woman's investigative efforts and research that ought to be the primary focus of the documentary. A shame, also, because for me Ms. Steingraber does not have enough of a screen presence to carry the length of this picture.
Many a time I found my mind wandering. As the mild and soft-spoken Ms. Steingraber does the narration, I think this intermittent wool-gathering of mine had a lot to do with the lulling nature of the subject's voice-over parlance. She speaks in a semi-monotone, which I found a bit snooze-inducing. As a speech-maker inside a lecture hall, behind a podium and with notes at her side, Ms. Steingraber is an articulate and forceful speaker, but absent of this setting, her way of speaking, as heard in the narration, lacks cadence, to an almost soporific degree.
There are bits and pieces and scraps of useful info, that if you are not fully awake you will in all likelihood miss. For example, once when I came to, there was something being said, having to do with the Baby Boomer generation and how it was around this time when external chemicals began showing up within the human bloodstream.
The big question, of course, which LIVING DOWNSTREAM primarily concerns itself with, is whether environmental factors are for the most part responsible for various forms of cancer. Certainly, there are genetic aspects to be taken into consideration, but that is not what this doc is in large part interested in.
In one scene, we are introduced to a male frog, of which it is said began to acquire the biological characteristics of a female, due to its having been exposed to a certain chemical. Elsewhere in the film, there is mention of cysts being discovered in beluga whales, believed to be the result of their having been exposed to industrial contaminants. During one speech, Ms. Steingraber discusses breast milk, and how this too is highly contaminated with environmental chemicals.
All in all, however, I cannot recommend LIVING DOWNSTREAM. I found it draggy and light on informational value. The film is somewhat shapelessly directed in my opinion, plays a little wispy, and left very little intellectual and emotional impression on me.
One thing I have never forgotten, though, is from my etymological studies. This being, how the term cancer is derived from the Greek word for crab. Apparently, cancer dates back all the way to the ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians; the latter, whose mummies were sometimes found with evidence of there having been tumors.
I wanted more of this -- you know, education. And less of the scenes showing Ms. Steingraber driving in her car, or jogging, or visiting relatives, or setting the kitchen table, or snuggling up with her husband and listening to her describe the time when she wore socks during surgery and how this had made her feel all warm and fuzzy.
