Film

DamNation

Name: DamNation
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2014
Cast: Edward Abbey, Bruce Babbitt, Lori Bodi, Yvon Chouinard, Elmer Crow

Other titles called DamNation: the 1988 film, the 2017 series (USA Network).

DamNation traces America's reconsideration of its dams—from engineering triumphs to ecological catastrophe. This is a documentary that moves like poetry, following rivers and the people fighting to free them. It's for anyone who's felt the pull of wild water, or who wants to understand how we got here and why undoing it matters now.

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My Octopus Teacher2020

A filmmaker bonds with an octopus over a year, creating something tender and revelatory about attention, curiosity, and our connection to wild life. Meditative and genuinely moving without a hint of sentiment.

But It's very slow. If you need plot momentum or dramatic confrontation, you'll find neither here.

An Inconvenient Truth2006

Al Gore's climate change documentary remains the most effective popular argument about environmental futures. Direct, furious, and unwilling to let you off the hook—you will feel something shift.

But It's aged into a period piece; some science has moved on, and Gore himself is a polarizing figure for some viewers.

The End of the Line2009

A documentary about overfishing that carries the same clear-eyed dread as DamNation. Follows the science and the people, showing us a future we're still choosing. Visually gorgeous and morally uncompromising.

But The subject matter is relentlessly bleak. Some viewers find it too depressing to finish.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from DamNation

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Koyaanisqatsi1983

Both use landscape as evidence. DamNation argues explicitly about what dams mean; Koyaanisqatsi shows you the entire infrastructure of control and asks you to feel what it means.

A non-narrative visual poem set to Philip Glass's score, showing American landscapes and industry without commentary. Dams, water systems, and energy appear throughout—you see them as part of a vast mechanized system. Hypnotic and weird.

But No dialogue, no plot, no conventional structure. If you need explanation and argument, you'll be frustrated.

Firelight2012

About Indigenous fire stewardship in California. Argues that we've misunderstood ecosystems for centuries and that the solutions often involve returning control to Indigenous peoples—a radical rethink of land management.

But Shorter and more focused on fire than water; if you want river-specific content, it's tangential.

The Biggest Little Farm2019

A couple walks away from Los Angeles to build a regenerative farm. It's utopian-minded and visually sumptuous, finding hope in soil and biodiversity rather than just cataloguing damage.

But Verges on feel-good agricultural fantasy. If you want harder analysis of industrial systems, this is too gentle.

Blackfish2013

Investigates orca captivity at SeaWorld. Maddening and precise, it builds a case about wildness being incompatible with confinement. The moral clarity is bracing.

But Released just before DamNation, very similar in structure and tone. You may feel like you're watching the same film twice.

A River Runs Through It1992

Lyrical and nostalgic meditation on fly-fishing, masculinity, and a Montana river landscape. Robert Redford directs; the cinematography alone makes it worth watching. Shows what rivers mean to people spiritually.

But It's a literary adaptation from the 1990s, slow-paced and more concerned with feeling than narrative drive. Not everyone's looking for that.