Thirst

There are some things so basic to human life that they don't belong in the free-market system, and water is definitely one of them. That's the message of this brilliant documentary, whose heroes are activists fighting to protect the rights of ordinary people to control their water supplies, either through government ownership or direct action (like the so-called "rainwater harvesters" of India, who dig their own ponds to collect rainwater in desert climates and fear that their work will be expropriated by multinational corporations like Coca-Cola and Pepsi). With human populations increasing and water resources staying about the same, there's a basic question for the future: will water continue to be a readily available human resource, or will it be privatized and become a luxury good controlled by multinational corporations, and will those who can't afford to pay for it be told just to do without and die? "Thirst" could have made an even stronger case against water privatization — an examination of what happened when Atlanta privatized its water supply (water bills shot up, quality went down and Atlantans started turning on their taps and getting a brown fluid instead of clean water) would have bolstered the film — but as it stands it's quite powerful and impassioned.