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Michael Lopez

Ms. Storer

English 3 Block 5

January 24, 2020

Greed

It always seems like something bad has to happen so that somebody could finally

understand what they were doing wrong. Deepwater Horizon is a film directed by Peter Berg

based on the biggest oil rig explosion in U.S. history which took place in the Gulf of Mexico in

2010. The story follows the protagonist’s Mike Williams and Jimmy Harrell attempting to

inform BP on the potential problems the rig has and their ignorance on ignoring the dangers. The

Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a tragic oil rig explosion that focuses on the Psychoanalytic

theory by explaining that if BP had put their pride aside and not rushed to have the correct safety

procedures done, the explosion would have been prevented. By examining the effects on the

survivors, it is evident that this event has given them extreme mental and emotional trauma.

It is evident that people do not make good decisions when they are prideful. When Jimmy

approached the BP workers about the potential problems with skipping a safety test, he states

“You’re a $180 billion company and your cheap. That’s why we’re a $186 billion company”

(Berg 00:31:10- 00:31:16). It is obvious that Donald knows what he is doing, but he does not

want to do anything about it because he is only focused on making money. Donald has full

knowledge of his intentions, but does not want to follow through with a vital safety test because

he was not willing to spend the money and due to the fact that he has a lot of pride about his oil
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rig being seemingly indestructible. Upon arriving at the rig, Jimmy sees that the testing team is

being sent home by Donald and says “You sent the testing team home before they could do their

job” (Berg 00:31:00- 00:31:05). He was trying to get the owner of the rig to run a safety test

because he was worried about the integrity of the cement. Donald feels as if he has nothing to

worry about since he takes much pride in his rig and thinks of it as being problem-free.

When people are rushed, they are tempted to make short cuts to cut time and Jimmy

proves this by saying “Your 43 days and $50 million over budget” (Berg 00:30:45- 00:30:50).

Donald was behind and over budget while working on the rig work which causes him to ignore

the dangers and cut corners. Because he was behind, he was worried that he was going to get

reprimanded, so he took the easy road and without even realizing it, puts all the crew members’

lives in danger. If he were to take the time and do the job right, no lives would have been taken.

During the eventual safety test, it was evident that there was a problem, but Donald ignores the

warnings and proceeds to tell the supervisor to proceed like normal and states “There was

pressure, but there was no mud” (Berg 00:42:28- 00:42:35). There was a known danger with the

amount of pressure as a result of the test, but Donald ignored it since the pipes were sealed of the

outside mud. Because he ignored the danger, the pressure built up to an uncontrollable level and

the rig exploded sending all the oil ablaze. If he were to take the correct steps, this accident

would have been prevented and this emotional film would not have had to been made.

When the survivors are ashore, they give their own traumatic testimonies about what

went through their heads that night. When Mike is giving his experience, he says “I asked God to

tell my wife and my little girl that daddy did everything he could” (Berg 01:39:49- 01:39:53)
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Mike felt as if he would not see his family again and prayed that God would give them one

special message. The media was able to know first-hand, the sheer level of trauma that one has to

endure in order to think that they are never going to see their loved ones again. In the trial,

Andrea who was the director of positioning of the rig, was asked about what was said in the final

moments and she states “I went over to the PA and made the announcement that we were

abandoning the rig” (Berg 01:40:31- 01:40:37) Andrea knew that in her final moments of being

on the rig, she could have lost her life if she were to stay. When doing their normal job, one may

expect for anything negative to happen and when the rig exploded, she was so frightened to stay

on the rig that she initiated the last resort; abandonment of the rig. When an explosion like

Deepwater Horizon occurs, it may cause one to think about what would have happened if the

correct measures were taken.

Doing the right thing, even if it means losing your job, will always be better than facing

the deadly consequences. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion is evidence that one should

not take too much pride in themselves and take their time while working or else, fellow workers

may have to experience an event that would alter the way they live for the rest of their lives. If

people knew the extent of their actions, great changes would be made.
 Works Cited

Berg, Peter“Deepwater Horizon.” Summit Entertainment, 2016.