Directed by: Suzan Beraza
Starring: Jeb Berrier
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Distributed by: New Video
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Running Time: 78 minutes
Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars
Well, when you think about watching a documentary on plastic it might not sound that exciting but this one delivers. It is funny but also very informative. This film features in-depth interviews with activists and City Council members but also more importantly just regular people. He makes some really good points that reducing the use of plastic your everyday lives in order to improve the environment. Just a note, the film doesn’t need to show the birth scene of his child, it was completely unnecessary and rather graphic. I do appreciate his journey though and how it develops and changes over the course of time. Jeb Berrier is just a normal guy and his main plan is to show that anyone can make a difference.
Some really interesting facts include the following: “The average American uses about 500 plastic bags each year and “Two million plastic bottles are consumed in the U.S. every five minutes”. There are also a few disturbing ones like “14 million pounds of trash end up in the ocean each year” and “An estimated 100,00 marine mammals and sea birds die each year from becoming entangled in or ingesting plastic debris”.
The special features are decent but are a little short overall. There is an extended scene with Jeb in the Netherland, short and runs about 2 minutes. There are the pros and cons presents for Bioplastic, also about two minutes. Also included are a bunch of extended interviews with Dr. Shanna Shaw, who talks about the chemical effects of plastic overuse, Sylvia Earle who talks about life before plastic, Wallace J. Nichols who talks about the environmental movement and lastly Dr. Richard Thompson who explains plastic and POPs.