When the coal seam gas industry staked a claim in the Northern Rivers, a critical mass of people from all walks of life - farmers, landowners, mums, dads, activists, scientists - organised themselves to rally against the fracking invasion. Despite enormous public opposition, the gas industry and the State Government were determined to go ahead. A series of dramatic blockades ensued, before the final battle lines were drawn in the peaceful farming valley of Bentley. Thousands of people flocked there to stare down the threat of 850 riot police, ordered in to break up the protest. What happened next set an historic precedent.
Filmed over five years, The Bentley Effect documents the highs and lows of the battle to keep a unique part of Australia gasfield-free. This timely story of a community's heroic stand shows how strategic direct action and peaceful protest can overcome industrial might and also be a lot of fun.
The film also shows just how massive the destruction of the landscape is with these projects from the wells to the pipelines, to the enormous processing facilities; not to mention to the rivers and groundwater.
"If you love this country, you'll have to fight for it," is just one of many rousing catch phrases and slogans that brought the community together. Their methods were creative, powerful, moving and peaceful but they were met with ugly brutality including cops covering the camera lens with their hands. ("We're just doing our job," they say. Don't they get that this statement is the famous Nazi defence, and saying it makes you look like a fascist bully-boy?) The camera captures the personalities pitted against each other, adorable knitting grannies and farmers on one side, lying, unprincipled, greedy and terribly unphotogenic, mining companies and politicians on the other. The ramshackle, blustering and illegal bulling by the State of the common people, is a shock to witness. As one local observed, the Bentley Blockade was about a crisis in democracy.
The Bentley Effect incorporates brilliant nature photography, too, including superb motion control, time-lapse sequences. It is a riveting story, full of emotion and drama, colour and music, that has won a swag of awards internationally. It features live performances at the blockade from the likes of John Butler, Ash Grunwald, Oka and Xavier Rudd all there to maintain the spirit of the heroic blockaders. The overall effect for the viewer is to be inspired, moved and entertained. Outstanding.
