"Fires of Kuwait" is a 35-minute documentary that will have its 25th birthday next year. The director is David Douglas who has worked on several other IMAX films as well. Narrator is Oscar nominee Rip Torn and speaking about Oscar nominees, this one also got in with the Academy. Strangely enough, it was nominated in the feature category and not in the documentary short category. I have no explanation for that though. Anyway, back to this film here, the fact that I rated it fairly low has only to do with personal preference. My interest in technology is not that big and I definitely would have enjoyed it more if it was more about the political context of Hussein setting these oil fields on fire. There are some moments that deal with this subject, but really the vast majority of the film is about how these fires got extinguished from the technological perspective and that was just something I did not find too interesting. The flames were also not spectacular enough to keep me interested for over 20 minutes. For firefighters, maybe even people who worked there back then, this may be a great watch. Everybody else can skip it.

Obviously, David Douglas's Academy Award-nominated "Fires of Kuwait" looks at the international effort to extinguish Kuwait's burning oilfields after the Gulf War.

But there are a few things worth mentioning. Even if you ignore the US's arming of Saddam Hussein in the '80s (including Reagan's willingness to forgive the accidental Iraqi attack on a US warship in 1987, considering Saddam too important a bulwark against Iran to criticize),and even if you ignore the US's devastation of Iraq in 1991 and further in 2003, it's worth noting Kuwaiti attitudes towards the US.

In the aftermath of the first Gulf War - which never really ended, as the US prevented Iraq from rebuilding - Kuwaitis adored the US and even named a street after George Bush. But a "60 Minutes" report on Kuwait a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks revealed that the US was no longer that popular there. The Kuwaitis saw the US backing Israel, and were also displeased with the US occupation of Afghanistan. In fact, 34% of Kuwaitis considered Osama bin Laden a terrorist, while 42% considered him a freedom fighter. At a summit of the Arab League in April 2002, Kuwait's representative told Iraq's representative that the Kuwaitis were willing to forgive and forget.

Well, look where Iraq is now. Thanks for nothing, Mark Sykes and François Picot!

Anyway, a fairly interesting documentary. I wonder if anyone realizes that no wars have gotten started over renewable energy.

The neatest thing about this documentary was watching the fire crews come up with the many ingenious ways to battle the various oil well fires. I saw this film on an IMAX screen which certainly added it's own cinematic touch to the works. There's nothing quite like watching a 40 ft. pillar of flame shooting up in front of you. I've also seen the video version, and while it's not as visually stunning, it is still highly enjoyable.