This is a cool-as workplace in the industrial side of the world.

Life on a deep sea oil rig unfolds like another day, not at the office, but like a job at the quarry, with bonding through quips and casual remarks.

I wouldn’t know the best one-liners here, but it does not seem to matter, because that isn’t the point. This is life on an oil rig or like any other kind of industrial workplace.

However, there will be problems unique to an oil rig.

Disaster

That has to do with oil and drilling in the ocean.

Engineer Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) is on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. He is the first to sound the alarm that a pressure test wasn’t done when preparing the drilling. This test is crucial to be sure of proper operation.

His supervisor Jimmy (Kurt Russell, concealed in moustache) is told and faces his superiors who already know. Company man Donald Vidrine—played by John Malkovich, who metamorphoses into the role of a crusty, authoritarian leader—insists everything will be all right because of a technicality. And a job has got to be done and money to be made.  The rest is history.

Deepwater Horizon (2016, out now on DVD) is a “based on true events” action-disaster film, from the 2010 BP oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The event upset many people.

As you would know, the event caused a major oil spill into the ocean, the worst in U.S. history. Human lives were lost. So were sea animals and this is briefly alluded to in the film.

Saying no

It’s like if they said no to the company man the disaster could have been prevented. It wasn’t easy saying no, though.

Vidrine ignores the negative result of the pressure test. Jimmy, the rig supervisor, and Mike Williams, can’t stand up to Vidrine despite doubting his decision.

What if the supervisor said no to Vidrine’s call?

Saying no to the authority is when the authority is in the wrong and the evidence points to this. Even in this situation, saying no takes courage.

Yet no one can say no in the film. The power is on the boss’ side. Standing up to an over powering individual who is wrong is even more difficult.

Superior knowledge would seem to elevate the person in the know even though there is a stinking fish somewhere.

Expect the unexpected. The consequences of not saying no could be disastrous. Saying no is the most challenging thing one can do in the face of an over powering individual who is wrong but who will only do it his way.