Hot Docs 2019 Reviews: Illusions of Control

May 02, 2019- Permalink

Illusions of Control

Shannon Walsh’s Illusions of Control looks at some of the ways we risk our society and lives and the people who have to deal with the (sometimes literal) fallout. Walsh’s film follows five women facing crises around the world. A mother in Yellowknife has to think about leaving her ancestral home because of the poison leaching into the soil and water from an abandoned mining project. Near the fallout zone of the Fukushima nuclear plant that was hit by the tsunami, a woman test her groceries for radioactivity. Another woman in China must deal with the dust storms and other issues rising from the desertification of her region. A Chicago woman deals with terminal cancer, while a woman in Mexico searches for her daughter’s remains in the desert as a result of the cartels.

The woman all have a dignity to their resilience in the face of these tragedies. They face their issues head on and make us consider what we can do and how problems can be solved and priorities altered.