Is your life too plastic? Movie probes throwaway culture


Plastic bags have been the subject of several recent films, both serious and mocking. Now, comes another one, the award-winning “Bag It” that raises a thorny question: “Is your life too plastic?”

The feature length documentary, made in Telluride, Colo., isn’t talking just about credit cards. It profiles “average guy” Jeb Berrier as he explores the ubiquity of plastic and disposable items in our lives. He discovers, the movie says, that the average American uses about 500 plastic bags each year. You can watch the trailer below or visit the movie’s website.

“Bag It” won the Best of Festival award this week at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in Monterey, Calif. reports The Watch, a Colorado newspaper. Last year’s winner, “The Cove”, went on to win an Oscar.

“We are totally surprised,” the film’s director Suzan Beraza said in the story. “We were up against the likes of National Geographic, BBC, Disney and Discovery, so we didn’t have high expectations.”

Beraza’s been showing the film throughout California to bolster support for a ban on plastic shopping bags, which the California Senate rejected Tuesday. Also promoting the ban was a recent “mockumentary” narrated by actor Jeremy Irons. A sober look at the lonely, existential life of a plastic bag is the topic of another film narrated by German filmmaker Werner Herzog.


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