I assumed JAH readers would understand I was not endorsing the film as a historical source. This raises an important question. For better or worse, Chinatown holds a far larger place in public memory of these events than do serious historical monographs. I think we all know this is not a good account of Los Angeles and its water wars. In film we enter a different historical space that plays by its own rules and logic.
Most people can appreciate the difference.
I, too, raised this criticism in the second to last paragraph of my review. The documentary's producers should have included more historians currently researching water in the West. Professors who show Cadillac Desert in the classroom will likely also assign a more scholarly text. For those of us who study the American West, it is important to recognize the continuing legacy of past decisions and struggles over water. Recent court decisions may have temporarily calmed the waters, so to speak, but the deeper controversies certainly remain.