Last Call at the Oasis

PG-13

Released May 4, 2012

1 hr. 45 min.

Documentary

List

81%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

88%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Erin Brockovich, Robert Glennon and Jay Famiglietti are among those interviewed in Jessica Yu's investigation of the world's looming water shortage.

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Audience Member

This is a MUST WATCH documentary! So important- I don't think many people realize how much we are in a global water crisis. Really eye-opening but also just a really well done film. This film looks at areas around the world that are going through a water crisis now, like California and Australia (10 year drought!), as well as what are our options- recycling water from waste (perfectly sanitary-they do it in Singapore now). We can't reverse climate change, but we can do things now to help the water crisis that is happening now.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I'm surprised that I missed this essential documentary -- as WATER is my #1 Environmental Issue of concern. In the case of Victoria,BC tap water -- the issue is Chloramine contamination. The apathy and lack of awareness regarding this issue in Victoria seems par for the course upon reflection after viewing this film. People don't seem to become aware until they(we) reach some kind of Crisis Point....sadly enough!

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

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Audience Member

Adequate doc. You'll need to take the time to look up some terminology - but it's worth it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Audience Member

It cannot be stated enough that the water struggles of the world are not talked about as often as they should by the media. This documentary covers the water shortages that permeate Third World Countries, as well as pollutant leaks from medical companies in commercial waterways, the issue of recycled water, and the benefits of conservatism in places that see water as a right rather than a luxury. The film covers every extensive issue of water shortage in the world, including right here in the United States, where conservation, and a heeding for regulation of water in dry and agrarian communities, has come under fire by many groups in the country. Even Erin Brockovich gives some face time for the cameras, going back to the town she initially helped twenty years ago, where pollution is still high. The call to arms is very strong in this film and it's as informative as it is shocking.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Audience Member

A must watch for every human

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This underwhelming documentary does not live up to its title or marketing. Visually, Jessica Yu did a great job keeping us engaged, but the film lacks coherent focus, substance beyond conjecture, and dare I say honesty in it's coverage. The first 20 minutes creates an adequate, cohesive thread introducing two water depletion issues affecting the western United States (the desert city Las Vegas, and the Central Valley), but we don't get any data or evidence to be convinced these represent a sweeping issue around the globe. Rather than explain some infrared imagery of the earth like any 10 minute TEDTalk presentation would do, the professor behind the images is simply reduced to vacuous dramatic tension by saying some form of "we're screwed" every time he's cut into the narrative. It reminds me of when I would come home from school ten years ago; a local christian station had a daily program on that spent an hour connecting the current international news events to the book of Revelations with their point being that the rapture was coming soon and that President Bill Clinton was most likely the Anti-Christ who would unite the world as the leader of he U.N. Any fool can make an argument; I need compelling evidence to show me it's worth my time to consider. From here, the film then abruptly shrinks itself down to a handful of 15 minute anecdotal vignettes, mostly on a few individuals in small American towns. These feel like desperate time fillers, superficial in their coverage (again, lacking data to either show us a problem or the cause) and too niche to be relevant to most Americans let alone the global community. Instead of water shortages, these mostly had to do with random accounts of pollution in small community water supplies, usually involving agriculture. I had to laugh at one point when it tried to make an algae bloom in lake Michigan sound like an unsafe toxin. Algae is just a benign, natural, single-celled aquatic vegetation that grows rapidly in warm and sunny water, as all photosynthetic organisms are prone to do. In the last 20 minutes, the film picks back up where the first 20 minutes left off, a quick look at a couple of government water projects outside the US that affect the supply of others. Its message about the social effect was that when neighboring countries have water disputes, it actually ends up being the topic that brings them together amicably with a shared future vision.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Jessica Yu

Director

Tim Barnett

Scripps Researcher

Bob Bowcock

Actor

Erin Brockovich-Ellis

Legal Consultant

Jay Famiglietti

UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling

Peter Gleick

Pacific Institute

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Jennie Punter

Globe and Mail

It's one of the best in a recent array of cinematic docs looking at such hot topics as oil, water, food production, climate change, the economy and telling us, as scientist Jay Famiglietti so succinctly puts it in Yu's film, "We're screwed."

Rated: 3/4

May 25, 2012

Full Review

Linda Barnard

Toronto Star

Be assured, this thorough doc with its gorgeous opening sequence will sear a central message into your brain: think before you drink.

Rated: 3/4

May 24, 2012

Full Review

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

"Last Call at the Oasis" represents nonfiction filmmaking at its most urgent, timely and stylistically smooth.

Rated: 3/4

May 11, 2012

Full Review

Jordan M. Smith

IONCINEMA.com

Yu's highly important film is a wake up call, and it does so with deafening facts and striking focus.

Feb 9, 2020

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Last Call At The Oasis may open some eyes and spark some debate on this very serious and frightening issue of water, but sadly, will undoubtedly quickly lose its audience due to over-reaching insuffiency.

Nov 26, 2019

Full Review

Michelle da Silva

Georgia Straight

In director Jessica Yu's recent documentary, Last Call at the Oasis, audiences are reminded of our overconsumption of the world's most vital resource and how our decisions and actions have deadly consequences.

May 3, 2017

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Synopsis

Erin Brockovich, Robert Glennon and Jay Famiglietti are among those interviewed in Jessica Yu's investigation of the world's looming water shortage.

Director: Jessica Yu
Executive Producer: Carol Baum, David Helpern, Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann
Screenwriter: Jessica Yu
Distributor: ATO Pictures
Production Co: Participant Media
Rating: PG-13 (Brief Strong Language|Some Disturbing Content)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 4, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $40.8K

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