Agent Orange is one of the horrors of the Vietnam War. A defoliant produced by DOW Chemical and dropped from war planes; burning trees as well as people, it was like raining fire—and, has continued to plagued southeast Asia for decades with poisoned water sources and human deformities. Banned from warfare use in 1971, remarkably and horrifyingly the chemical is still with us—and this film brings that reality home; quite literally, to Douglas County.

Although the storyline is like Erin Brockovich: Douglas County Edition, with government denials and big business bullying, this documentary is a calm presentation, simply offering the individual stories that gather together to explain a decades-long and massive catastrophe. The facts speak for themselves: Frogs and fish born with extra legs and fins in the streams where the U.S. Forest Service and timber companies sprayed, as a herbicide; rates of mischarges doubling in the populations drawing their drinking water from those regions; and, activists harassed and denied. While napalm may seem as dated as JFK and LBJ, clandestine footage shot in southern Oregon from 2015 shows that the dangers—and arrogance—are still very much here.

AIFF presents: The People versus Agent Orange. March 5 – 15. Tickets: $10, ($8 members)