Educational Media Reviews Online

Noah Hutton’s Deep Time explores the impact of the oil boom on a small town in North Dakota forced to submit to urban development. Both Native and non-Native populations in the state have seen drastic changes to their economies, cost of living, architecture, and employments opportunities. This film encourages viewers to contemplate, via a contemporary U.S. case study, the effects of oil booms and drilling on Native nations and small-town America, as well as the environment.

Deep Time gathers a wide range of voices, from teenage gas station employees and oil drillers to farmers and tribal councilmen, to explain the positive and negative effects of capitalistic ventures in a largely depleted area. While the diverse voices are one of this film’s strengths, the film jumps around a lot, making a cohesive plot and story difficult to comprehend. Conversations jump from religion to Native culture to cost of living increases to environmental changes. This film requires the viewer to devote their full attention to the complicated and often convoluted changes in Stanley, North Dakota in order to make sense of them.

I recommend this film to political science students and capitalism enthusiasts alike. While the film finishes with a rather depressing message, it does help the viewer weigh the pros and cons of oil drilling in the United States. If one is able to fully engulf in the content of this film – and perhaps do some background research to aid in understanding – then Deep Time is a worthwhile film to boost one’s thoughts on fracking and drilling oil in the United States.