A Documentary That Cracks the Corporate Shell

Read Time:5 Minute, 8 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Pistachio Wars
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Genre: Documentary, Environmental, Political
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 15m
Director(s): Yasha Levine, Rowan Wernham
Where to Watch: available on VOD + Digital Platforms

RAVING REVIEW: PISTACHIO WARS peels back California’s agricultural facade and reveals something far more unsettling beneath the orchards. Directed and written by Yasha Levine and Rowan Wernham, the investigative documentary follows the trail of corporate greed that turns the state’s natural resources into a luxury commodity. What begins as a straightforward inquiry into a small water deal evolves into a sweeping, damning examination of power, branding, and the privatization of something as essential as life itself.

That small thread unravels an intricate network connecting billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, their corporation, The Wonderful Company, and the billions of gallons of water in California they control. It’s the kind of documentary that doesn’t just inform—it implicates. Every ad for “healthy snacks” and every bottle of pomegranate juice suddenly feels like evidence of something larger and darker: a system where access to water equates to power.

The directors don’t waste time with broad overviews or commentary. Instead, they turn their cameras directly on the mechanisms of exploitation—farms that stretch endlessly across parched land, pipes rerouting precious water, and communities literally running dry. Levine, both filmmaker and on-screen investigator, approaches the subjects with journalistic restraint but moral urgency. His calm narration contrasts with the outrage simmering beneath the surface of the facts. You can tell this isn’t meant just to sensationalize but to expose, even as the scope of what he uncovers becomes staggering.

The structure of PISTACHIO WARS feels methodical, unfolding like a crime investigation. It moves from small towns, where taps sputter with dust, to corporate boardrooms, where decisions about irrigation quotas and marketing spin shape public perception. The filmmakers draw a direct line between resource control and narrative control—the way billionaires craft “green” and “wonderful” imagery while simultaneously devastating ecosystems. It’s the kind of dissonance that great documentaries thrive on, and Levine and Wernham make sure every contradiction lands with weight.

Despite the gravity of its subject, the film maintains accessibility. It’s clear, direct, and unpretentious. There’s no reliance on flashy editing or manipulative scoring. Instead, Levine and Wernham craft tension through revelation. Each new connection—between corporate lobbying and water deregulation, between agricultural monopolies and U.S. foreign policy—feels like turning over another stone in a garden that’s been carefully curated to hide rot. When the film reveals its big discovery, it’s both shocking and depressingly logical given corporate priorities.

Levine’s narration—soft, deliberate, conveys a quiet disillusionment that never drifts into despair. He’s not a crusader so much as a witness trying to make sense of a machine too vast to dismantle. When he approaches the Resnicks’ Beverly Hills mansion, camera in hand, it’s not an act of confrontation but one of symbolism: the invisible walls of privilege that separate wealth from consequence.

It’s dense with history, tracing California’s water crisis through decades of policy, yet it never feels like a lecture. The film benefits from pacing that mirrors its subject—slowly tightening pressure until the system cracks before our eyes. By the time it reaches its international implications, connecting U.S. water politics to geopolitical strategy and trade with Iran, the scale has expanded from local to global without losing coherence.

There’s humor here, too, buried beneath the frustration. Levine’s asides and visual juxtapositions—like a polished Wonderful Company commercial cutting to footage of cracked soil—add sharpness without deflating the urgency. It’s not comedic relief so much as bitter irony. That tone helps the film land harder than a purely solemn approach ever could.

By its end, PISTACHIO WARS has accomplished something quietly devastating: it reframes water not as a natural resource, but as the purest symbol of inequality. It challenges viewers to reconsider what “sustainability” means when wealth can literally reshape geography. When the credits roll, there’s no sense of resolution—only awareness. The wars aren’t over; they’re ongoing, fought behind closed doors and irrigation lines.

For Levine and Wernham, this isn’t just an exposé—it’s a wake-up call wrapped in investigative filmmaking. In a media landscape obsessed with fast outrage, their film demands patience, attention, and empathy. The anger it stirs doesn’t fade when the screen goes black; it lingers like drought. PISTACHIO WARS transforms a niche agricultural issue into a gripping reflection on capitalism, corruption, and control. It’s a documentary that dares to connect the dots most avoid and leaves you wondering how long the world can afford to keep pretending its thirst is sustainable.

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[photo courtesy of WATERMELON PICTURES]

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