Review: 'The Wild' is an absorbing documentary that melds the personal with the political in a fight to preserve a wild salmon run

In his return trip to the world’s last pristine wild salmon run, filmmaker Mark Titus turns his film “The Wild” into something unique: A mix of the environmental and the emotional, the political and the personal.

In his 2014 documentary “The Breach,” Titus described the battle for Bristol Bay, Alaska, where the wild salmon run — the only one left in the world that hasn’t been altered by humans — was under threat by the proposed Pebble Mine. The proposed open-pit mine would extract gold and copper from the ground, but likely leave behind environmental damage that would never be completely fixed.

The good news at the end of “The Breach” was that the efforts of those opposed to the mine — an alliance of fishermen, activists, artists, native Alaskans and others — the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put a permanent ban on mining in Bristol Bay. All seemed right with the world.

“The Wild” explains what brought the mining plans back from the dead: The election of Donald Trump, and his appointment of Scott Pruitt, the climate-change denier and former Oklahoma attorney general who was picked to head the EPA. Suddenly, the Pebble Mine was back in play, and the opposition had to start all over again.

Trump’s election also put Titus in a personal tailspin. He talks about becoming an alcoholic, and how his decline coincided with his grandmother’s death and his mother’s cancer diagnosis. As the movie starts, Titus is 55 days’ sober, and questioning his decision to grab his cameras and return to Bristol Bay.

Titus soldiers on, reacquainting viewers with the people battling against the mine, and introducing us to celebrities — including actors Adrian Grenier and Mark Harmon, and restaurateur and “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio — who are taking up the cause. He even snags an interview with the mining corporation’s reasonable-sounding CEO, someone Titus couldn’t get near in his first film.

Titus weaves his personal story into his goal of saving Bristol Bay, and hits on a touching metaphor: Just as he deluded himself into thinking his life and his drinking could co-exist, so the mining company has lied to itself (and to Alaskans) that the salmon run and the mine can co-exist. Titus’ human-sized perspective gives “The Wild” an emotional clarity some environmental documentaries lack.

——

‘The Wild’

★★★

Available Friday, June 26, as a VOD rental on most platforms, and through virtual cinemas (including SLFS@Home). Not rated, but probably PG-13 for mature themes. Running time: 64 minutes.