(The 2026 Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday, January 22 and runs through Sunday, February 1 for, sadly the last time, in and around Park City, Utah. Check out M.J. O’Toole’s The Lake movie review, fresh from the fest. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
In a climate that’s under threat now more than ever, one group of people we need to rely on for survival is, without a doubt, the scientists who record, report, and try to offer solutions to salvage what remains. But even when circumstances become more dire, why is it so hard for these solutions to come to fruition? With The Lake, Utah native Abby Ellis makes her feature directorial debut with an unflinching look at a terrifying situation that many of us might be unaware of. Her access allows her to go deep into the efforts to save Utah’s dissipating Great Salt Lake, just 30 miles away from the Sundance Film Festival. Utah has the second-highest water use per capita, with 80% of the lake’s water going towards human usage. A lack of rain or snow doesn’t help either. But even more harrowing is that once the lake dries up (it being the largest saline lake in the western hemisphere), that would mean the airborne spread of arsenic, mercury, and other carcinogens found in the basin. This would harm the 2.8 million people in the state, and possibly other parts of the country, if not contained. Ellis, working with cinematographer Alex Takats and editor Emelie Mahdavian, raises the question of how we can come together against the threat of an “environmental nuclear bomb” when our professional and personal beliefs differ. What transpires will stay with you long after the credits roll.
The film follows three Utahns who are working around the clock to save the Great Salt Lake: Dr. Ben Abbott, an environmental scientist; Dr. Bonnie Baxter, a microbiologist; and Brian Steed, the Great Salt Lake Commissioner. Abbott is a determined scientist working closely with Adams and Steed to monitor the scientific hazards from the lake’s drought and present their evidence to their state government. Ellis and Takat’s unflinching, verite camerawork shows the deadly effects this has on the lake’s ecosystem. Multiple pelicans are dying, and Wilson’s Phalarope, small wader birds, are on the verge of endangerment. Even when evidence of the airborne effects from the lake’s exposed lake bed comes to light, their shared mission takes a turn for the more urgent. However, their efforts to secure the funding to conserve the water and monitor the carcinogens in the air are constantly stonewalled by their state government turning a blind eye to the matter, primarily Utah’s governor Spencer Cox. What makes this film even more relevant to the crises in the U.S. today is the rather frustrating matter of the lack of government interest in preserving the environment, affecting the lives of people and wildlife as a result. Nevertheless, the team of Abbott and Steed remains defiant in their efforts.
These two men turn to their Christian faith as a way to reinforce their shared mission, while remaining practical about the efforts that need to be made, such as an overhaul of the state’s water use. Steed, a government insider, has the trying task of negotiating with communities to limit their water usage. This includes the farmers who feel targeted and rely on much of the lake’s water for their crops. This makes you ponder the complicated greys surrounding the matter, such as whether preserving the water is worth farmers potentially losing part of their livelihood and food production being impacted. The changes that need to be made to the lake are so massive that the team explores numerous avenues and loopholes to make them. One of them is attempting to invoke the Endangered Species Act to protect the Wilson’s Phalorope, which would require the state to invoke protection around the lake.
Ellis intimately observes the personal lives of Abbott and Steed, both devoted family men who worry for their families’ safety and question whether a future in Utah will be sustainable for them. Even a moment of personal reckoning for Dr. Baxter forces her to consider how closely she should be involved with the field research. As she says herself at one point, she doesn’t want to make the same mistake as the scientists on the Manhattan Project, who detached themselves from the impact of dropping atomic bombs on civilians. Even as this environmental threat is front and center, Ellis’s close observations of her subjects and their circumstances emphasize the professional and personal choices we may face in these times of crisis and how even one can impact human lives.
As of today, the future of the Great Salt Lake remains uncertain. But with The Lake, which has Leonardo DiCaprio on board as a new Executive Producer, director Abby Ellis and her determined subjects show us that we need to act now before the damage is irreversible. The Sundance Film Festival may be leaving Utah, but the lake will remain, and the team (including local environmental groups) will still fight for its replenishment and survival. As much as this movie is a cautionary document, it is also a paean to the determination of those fighting for a region’s future and survival. Should the state government proceed with the necessary measures to preserve and refill the lake, there may be hope on the horizon.
After watching this film, you may end up pondering either how safe your own local natural environment is or what you can do to help preserve it for future generations. With striking images, sharp editing, and keenly observant documentation, The Lake should be a wake-up call to the world’s leaders and citizens that the threat to our survival may be closer than we think. Once we put our opinions aside and start looking at the rock-hard facts, all we have left is the choice of whether to start doing something.
– M.J. O’Toole (@mj_otoole93)
Post a Comment
