Educational Media Reviews Online

This film created by Patagonia, an American company that markets and sells outdoor clothing, uses the ongoing Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign as a centerpiece. This environmental movement is a partnership with NGOs from across the Balkan region and throughout Europe. This nexus of obvious business interest and social eco-activism in the form of a film project for mostly online distribution is remarkable and worth attention. However, it also has its own limitations: this film is exceptionally biased, a one-sided take on a topic that is indeed important and deserves balanced, multidimensional consideration, especially for use in the classroom.

In a nutshell, this is a story of the Balkans, the least developed corner of Europe (never defined in the film) and its “last wild rivers” (what about the rivers of northern European Russia?). The film claims that there are more than 3000 proposed hydropower projects for the region and that they threaten to destroy traditional local culture and ecology. To convey the message, the film provides interviews with locals and many idyllic nature scenes with an evocative soundtrack (original music by Andrew Bird). This raising of awareness about the local environment and culture is valuable not only for Patagonia and helps to increase understanding of regional ecological topics around the world – including the wilderness as a new value.

The educational use of the film is questionable. If there is a conflict, perhaps all sides should be represented and their arguments heard – not the case in this film. It gives a forum mostly to old traditional countryside dwellers and NGOs. It would be important to hear arguments from politicians, scholars, planners, and urban young people alike, especially with the film promoting conspiracy theories around Europe’s dam construction lobby. Since the film’s anti-modernization message for this region is often narrated by an outsider, Ulrich Eichelmann of RiverWatch Austria, who grew up in Europe’s most modernized country, Germany, there might be questions about his alarmist claims such as “if you build a dam, there is no water left, no water for people” – this is an erroneous claim. If there are already 1000 hydropower dams in the region, why present the region as an area of wilderness and of wild rivers? The dams do exist in the Balkans and they are an essential part of the regional ecosystem and they should be presented and explored in depth as such. The film highlights the Vjosa River that is unique for having no artificial obstacles to its flow. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that this river is mostly in Albania, one of the poorest countries of Europe. The film claims that the Albanian government has plans to build 38 dams on the river, and a village would be flooded. By focusing on the village and not the country as a whole the film does a disservice to the campaign and the causes it highlights.

Dam constructions do create problems yet they also help to resolve issues, otherwise they would not be built. For instance, modernization helps to equalize regional economic disparities in Europe so that countryside locals can afford to travel (and purchase Patagonia products too).