Sometimes a story is so big and involved that it's difficult to get a handle on it. That can be quite a challenge for even the most adept documentarians and investigative reporters, no matter how eager or adept they may be in taking on such an ambitious project. And that, unfortunately, is the case with the latest offering from director Gabriela Cowperthwaite in her eight-year-long collaboration with journalist Nathan Halverson of The Center for Investigative Reporting. In essence, the film seeks to identify and characterize the new flashpoints underlying emerging geopolitical conflicts. Just as those in recent years have been driven by the compulsion to secure valuable energy supplies, today's budding battlegrounds are once again tied to acquiring access to precious resources - in this case, food and water, along with the aquifers, agricultural land and processing facilities needed to yield these commodities. Evidence of the desperate, growing need for obtaining these materials has already begun to surface - albeit not always overtly - in such incidents as the Arab Spring and even the War in Ukraine. And, because of this developing crisis, those interested in locking down these resources have started scrambling to acquire them, primarily clandestinely, in regions where they're most plentiful. These efforts have been spearheaded by multinational corporations and global financial institutions in cooperation with countries that are experiencing, or have historically experienced, critical food and water shortages, such as China, Russia, Venezuela and the nations of the Middle East. And, to help ensure the success of these ventures, they have enlisted the support of mercenary muscle to achieve their goals. High-profile targets, primarily in Africa and even parts of the US, have come under growing scrutiny, unscrupulously grabbed from their rightful owners and leaving them destitute as a result. Needless to say, this is an incredibly complicated story, one that's difficult to tell, and, regrettably, that's somewhat apparent in the finished product. While the work of Cowperthwaite and Halverson is undoubtedly sincere, having brought a great deal of previously buried information to light, it's nearly impossible to relate this complex narrative in a concise and coherent manner. Given the many story threads involved and the well-camouflaged structures that have been set up to keep the truth and its principal participants concealed, it's a genuine challenge to intelligibly expose the overarching nature of this highly convoluted big picture. Some elements are thus underdeveloped or left incomplete, making this film an often-frustrating watch. That's unfortunate considering the importance of this story, one that has been largely flying below the radar and certainly deserves to be more widely exposed and detailed. With that said, though, "The Grab" represents a valuable start, and one can only hope there will be more releases like this that manage to dig deeper and discover more. It's also heartening that the picture addresses some of the victories that have come about in combatting this issue, particularly those that have benefitted Africans who have been subjected to what is essentially a new form of continental colonization. In an age where increasing social and political volatility is arising due to a failure to effectively address the world's hunger, it's essential that we become aware of this issue before it gets out of hand and leads us down a path we don't dare pursue.

Being told this had something related to Blackfish made me think this doc must have some weight. 10 mins in I thought I was missing something. 20mins in I thought I just hadn't quite slotted in to the information being presented. 30 mins in I realise they are presenting a lot of information like a graph, with no explanation of why it is going up or down and what the x or y is. 40 mins in I'm thinking why I have wasted 40mins of my life. I don't even know what this film is trying to tell me because it's so bad. This thing over here is a thing but another thing is doing this and that thing has recorded it. So water is really important but we don't have any. I even tried getting stoned halfway through to see if it made more sense but it didn't. And now I'm 2 hours older.

This documentary tries valiantly to be some kind of vast doomsday revelation. But by spreading itself too thin, and leaping from one flimsy point to another, it fails to come up with enough specifics, or even a coherent thesis, that would make its 1hr 45min run time feel worthwhile.

"The problem isn't countries or people trying to secure their food supply, the problem is how," journalist (and star of the film) Nathan Halverson sums up the premise. "They" are grabbing other people's land, sucking aquifers dry. It's a good premise for a documentary. Unfortunately, The Grab is not that documentary. It's based entirely on anecdotes and sweeping quotes from various interested parties - all very loosely connected by narration from Halverson.

"What if... instead of grass,we use bacteria? And instead of cows, we use fungi?" Sure - what if? What if the filmmakers had stuck to their main point, about the global 'land grab' and left bio-engineering for another time? The Grab consists almost entirely of such half-hearted digressions.

Worst is all the time spent talking about Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater mercenary group. The reporters in the film seem particularly proud of a dump of emails - colorfully referred to as The Trove - which ultimately yields no revelation other than the name of Prince's Chinese employer. "We expect these emails are gonna become a playbook for how people are looking to grab up food and water," says Halverson. But that connection is never strongly enough to justify the time spent on Prince.

World food prices are soaring! Yes, this is worrying. But are they soaring because of factors such as Russia reducing its wheat exports - or because the few companies that control global food markets are exercising unrestrained monopolistic power? Who does control the world food markets? Dunno. But, but... Russia is raising cattle! Worse... they're hiring *American* cowboys to do it! Well, *an* American cowboy - we're given only one example (including some nice footage of a Russian rodeo). If you're hoping to find out how Russian beef production has grown over the years, look elsewhere.

Security experts are apparently worried about "the possibility of Russia using its food supply as a weapon." The film doesn't specify in what way this would be a departure from the status quo in global markets. Every country seeks the best deal, uses its unique resources for leverage. Is Russia especially bad in this regard? No idea. But, but... global warming will thaw the Russian north and open a huge new potential for control of food supplies! Okay... but is melted tundra the same thing as rich prairie farmland? Probably not even close. Another big pronouncement backed by zero science and no expert comment.

China is making food security for its population a high priority. Okay, that's interesting. There's even a snippet of interesting historical background - the fact that a US embargo contributed to the great Chinese famine in the late 1950s. But the Chinese move is presented as if somehow sinister... and again, there are no statistics, no details of various national policies. Much later, Halverson acknowledges that Western countries ought to do the same. But there's no background on existing national policies, in China or anywhere else.

The Grab is nicely produced, and raises some important issues. It's even thought-provoking at times. But it fails to provide solid information or deep perspective. If you want to know about our food supply, watch Food Inc. 1 and the recent Food Inc. 2. If you want to learn about the geopolitics of natural resources, there are many better sources than The Grab.