(1/2)Rise and fall (arte.tv, 2020) - From 20/09/2021 to 20/10/2021
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The discovery of oil was like a miracle at the time: petroleum lamps lit living rooms as never before, oil-powered machines worked as effectively as 50 workers. Its power gave mankind unprecedented economic growth. John D. Rockefeller became the first billionaire thanks to oil. But the raw material was to have a decisive influence on two world wars.
In the mid-19th century, oil-powered petroleum lamps lit up living rooms for the first time. Fifty years later, gasoline helped the automobile to an unparalleled success story. In the 21st century, the range of substances in the petro-modern way of life expanded ever more rapidly: Cleaning agents, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plastic toys - no credit card without plastic, and even the computer world is an oil world. Keyboards and monitors, smartphone and tablet housings - everything is based on the raw material. That's why the price of oil was and is the most important figure on earth.
In two parts, Andreas Sawall traces the worldwide triumph of oil: from the beginnings of its industrial exploitation in the USA to the most important lubricant of international relations and trigger of global crises.
Using numerous finds from international archives and interviews with physicist Harald Lesch, Italian historian Giuliano Garavini, Swiss author and journalist Daniel Ammann and others, the film creates a multi-layered portrait of a raw material that has shaped our everyday lives for many decades - and remains unchanged to this day.
The elaborate research takes stock of how the black gold aroused desires more than 100 years ago. The exciting thing: Oil makes not only businessmen, but also democratically elected governments morally extremely flexible.