Deepwater Horizon: overwhelming but sentimental

Stay away if you don't like disaster films, are allergic to sentimentality and simplicity, or have shares in the oil giant BP.

For everybody else, Deepwater Horizon is perfect to let it wash over you in front of the best screen at the multiplex. Blockbuster director Peter Berg (Lone Survivor, Battleship), who could certainly not be described as subtle but is certainly underrated, provides a violent reconstruction of the oil spill catastrophe that struck the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. When the floating drilling platform Deepwater Horizon exploded, eleven people died and an enormous ecological disaster ensued. We never get to see the latter. The film focuses on the workers who fear for their lives due to rash decisions made by BP executives (a deliciously villainous performance by John Malkovich) who are more interested in profits than safety. Check the archives of reliable media outlets if you want to know the facts. Head to the cinema if you want to be overwhelmed.

Deepwater Horizon, US, 2016, dir.: Peter Berg, act.: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, 107 min. UGC De Brouckère