Re: From his biography (link)

Yes, I've read that already, and it makes it clear that the story was Flaherty's ("Almost immediately a story began to take shape in our minds. ... The company would be satisfied, in a highly imaginative public relations manner, with what editorial publicity it might reap from the film when made."). The script itself was written by the director and his wife. Flaherty, of course, was not interested in making a film about industrial pollution, and no doubt took a benign view of the oil drilling industry. Maybe he can be faulted for that. But it was still his film. To understand the specific themes that the film explores I really think it is useful to actually view it.