Remains of a River

Gr 10 Up—From October 2011 to January 2012, two friends travelled 1700 miles from the source of the Colorado River in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming to the delta where it empties into the Sea of Cortez. This documentary is filled with a vast array of landscapes, animals, and serious musings by the two adventurers as well as a sense of goofiness and fun. Filmed much like a home movie, there is a variety of musical backgrounds with some narration and a few interviews with people they met along the route. The trip was not without hardships, including cold weather and harsh conditions. Large dams such as Glen Canyon and Hoover required portages, and the farther south they travelled, they encountered more evidence that the river water is being diverted for agriculture and to large population centers. Toxic agricultural runoff and, eventually, a lack of water plagued them the last miles of their journey. This film would best be used by students who had studied the geography of the Colorado River and environmental issues such as hydroelectric dams and the overall degradation of wild places. Without this background knowledge, they might not understand the purpose of the trip and the making of this documentary. Science, geography, current event, and government classes can utilize this film.—Patricia Ann Owens, formerly Illinois Eastern Community Colleges, Mt. Carmel