In new docuseries Wasteland (now streaming on Paramount Plus), director Elisa Gambino informs us in no uncertain terms that we do have to, and isn’t hesitant about showing us why. // “‘This is everybody’s problem’: inside America’s growing sewage crisis”, The Guardian
Docuseries ‘Wasteland’ takes on crumbling infrastructure’s toll on the environment // “The Atlanta filmmakers team up with CBS News to tackle America’s wastewater crisis”, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Still, the film's director, Neal Broffman, says there are important lessons here — including social media's potential for both harm and good. // “How Social Media Smeared A Missing Student As A Terrorism Suspect”, NPR
A new documentary seeks to tell the full story of Sunil Tripathi, mis-identified as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. // “The Real Story of Sunil Tripathi, the Boston Bomber Who Wasn't”, NBC
“Textbook Documentary Filmmaking”
Review by Bruce Tessier of 'Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi'
Scorecard: 9 (out of 10). This documentary by a team of journalists with a background at CNN tells its story journalistically and cinematically with so many good elements, it's a textbook for documentary filmmaking. They don't hit us over the head with the exposition, they let it unfold like a novel. A friend says Sunil didn't want a backup plan in life; he only wanted to be the best saxophonist possible. Then they show footage of Sunil reading "The Fountainhead" – the Bible of individual achievement and personal responsibility. Next they show him losing interest in school and falling into a depression before disappearing. Finally, all hell breaks loose over the bombing of the Boston Marathon and everyone tries to figure out what went wrong. The film examines depression as a physical illness and the responsibility of the media, but it has a harder time addressing personal and societal responsibility. It doesn't accept suicide as a choice for someone who perhaps couldn't achieve his dreams and it doesn't demand the same ethics for users of the Internet as it demands from old media. One of the best things about the Internet, says a young man, is its unrestricted freedom. But that's also what gives it the potential for horrifying abuse.