At the moment, there is a documentary about the Flint water crisis that is in post-production. In brief, said documentary is a collaboration between Imaginary Forces and Montrose Pictures, while the documentary maker is a man by the name of Anthony Baxter. So far, no more than a short snippet of 20 minutes has been shown at the Traverse City Film Festival as a sort of preview, though we know that the documentary will be focused on the experiences of the people who suffered through said event rather than the choices of the people who caused it.
Who Is Anthony Baxter?
Anthony Baxter is the Scottish director of a number of documentaries with related subjects. For example, You’ve Been Trumped was focused on Donald Trump’s purchase of one of the last patches of wilderness in Scotland for the purpose of building a golf resort, while You’ve Been Trumped Too was focused on the clash between Donald Trump and a more than 92 years-old Scottish widow named Molly Forbes over said purchase.
Likewise, A Dangerous Game covered how the building of luxurious resorts by land developers was hurting local residents as well as local ecosystems, while Dark Side of the Greens covered a number of such locations that were under threat at the time. Summed up, it is clear that Baxter has plenty of expertise and experience as a documentary-maker, but at the same time, it is also clear that his sympathies lie with the underdogs who suffer when the rich and powerful are permitted to overrule their interests.
What Is the Flint Water Crisis?
For people who are unfamiliar with the Flint water crisis, it started when the source of drinking water for the city of Flint in the state of Michigan was changed from Lake Huron to Flint River. This was a huge problem because the drinking water from Lake Huron had been treated by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to such an extent that it could be used with the lead service lines that can be found throughout Flint and the rest of the United States without causing too much leaching of the hazardous substance. In contrast, the drinking water from Flint River had not received the right treatments, which resulted in serious health issues that ranged from coliform bacteria to chlorine byproducts and the leaching of lead.
However, the problem was made much worse by the insistence of the local authorities that the drinking water was safe to drink. In fact, the local authorities went as far as to lie to the state authorities about having conducted tests showing that the drinking water at homes with lead service lines had no more than acceptable levels of lead, which was proven to be a lie because they didn’t actually know which homes had lead service lines and which homes had service lines made out of other materials.
Meanwhile, it can be said that other authorities at other levels failed as well, seeing as how while they were concerned about what was happening, they failed to publicize their thoughts on the matter until the public had started raising an outcry. Summed up, the Flint water crisis is an excellent example of how mistakes made at the top had horrendous consequences for local residents, which explains much about why Baxter was so interested in the matter.
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