I've always been fascinated by Bill Gates' life. There are more than a couple of films out there that feature him in his rise to being the wealthiest person in the world when he was developing Microsoft but this is the first one that I have seen that focuses on his philanthropic work that focuses on improving the lives of the world's poorest people.
We all know who Mr. Gates is; he is one of the most famous people in the world due to the fact that he is the creator of one of the most dominant companies of all time. It probably doesn't hurt that he is very, very rich. However, what do we really know about this guy? He tends to stay out of the public eye and avoids having a public opinion on most things political as well.
I knew about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and knew they did a lot of work in Africa and what not but was unaware that he wasn't just over there giving away money - he wanted to change the way things are done in terms of sanitation - primarily, building better toilets.
This is where a lot of viewers might get uncomfortable because there is some rather graphic imagery involving poo-poo. As tough as that is for us to look at, imagine how difficult it is to live in that sort of environment.
I am one of the many privileged people in the world, and i presume you are too, that has just always lived in an environment with effective sanitation systems, never realizing that this system is actually very complicated and also, quite expensive.
With the help of some seriously intelligent engineering pals that only someone with the clout the Bill Gates has access to, they build this thing: The Janicki Omni Processor. This machine takes human waste, and does something magical to it, and then converts it into ash, electricity (more than enough to power itself), and drinking water. Drinking water you say??? It sounds ridiculous but Bill himself was the first person to ever publicly try the processed water and he said "it tastes delicious."
I never knew much about Bill Gates the philanthropist and after watching this series I think he might be one of the best people on earth. He could just horde his money and not give a damn about poor people, but instead he commits billions of dollars and a lot of his very valuable time to projects that he stands to gain nothing from.
I feel as though the development of this machine, which is extraordinary, is an amazing development in technology and humanitarianism. For me anyway, it begs the question: why wasn't this all over the news?
Had you heard of it and my world-view just isn't as grand as I thought it was? Everyone should be talking about this. I suppose it should be no surprise that the media doesn't talk about this since it isn't political and has zero to do with war, Trump, Brexit, or global warming.
from the Netflix official channel
The series is 3 parts and while they do jump back and forth between topics they also talk about Bill's initiative to produce cheaper nuclear-based electricity and briefly touch base on how he doesn't believe current renewable energy options are a good choice. I did find it a bit patronizing that they focus on how he met and wooed Melinda - it is almost as if they were suggesting that Bill was too nerdy and funny-looking to land a chick.
Bill does become a bit defensive when they discuss the anti-trust cases that took place in the 90's but for the most part Mr. Gates seems like a very approachable and down to earth dude.
What he is doing should be all over the news and I find it quite tragic that it isn't. Perhaps this very entertaining and informative docu-series will help to change that.
