Even when a place is covered by traces of deterioration and death, there is still plenty of beauty to be found. That is the feeling you have after watching the short documentary “The Useless Sea” by Franck Tabouring.
With the emphasis on California’s largest body of water, the Salton Sea, the director takes viewers on a cinematic journey around the doomed sea. The Salton Sea is a peculiar place which is in desperate need of relief in order to assure the survival of the ecosystem in the lake.
The documentary features series of gorgeous and haunting shots of the sea, with the director desperately trying to find the beauty of the area, despite all the decay surrounding him.
The Salton Sea was accidentally formed in 1905. Located about 180 miles east of Los Angeles, it is still the largest body of water in California. The Lake is unique in many ways, including the fragile ecosystem, but also by its salinity, which is 0.0016lbs per cubic inch, which is greater than the Pacific Ocean.
There was a period in history when the Lake was actually referred as the Colorado Desert. This was during the Spanish period of California. And if no measurements are taken in the following years, the “Useless Sea” might become a desert again.
