The Lake

Abby Ellis’ look at three people fighting to keep Utah’s rapidly disappearing Great Salt Lake from turning into an “environmental nuclear bomb” keeps things simple and observational, and is the stronger for it.

It’s a strong documentary that understands that this isn’t a simple issue: Asking an already delicate ecosystem like that of the Utahn farmer to put itself in further jeopardy isn’t easy for scientists or the politicians who need their votes.

What makes this more than a standard issue-driven documentary is Ellis’ subtle but insistent tracking of the role religious faith plays on both sides of the debate.

It’s a rare documentary about the environment that doesn’t cast anyone as the bad guy, and doesn’t leave the audience without hope.