Bag It

Bag it is a documentary with a simple and important message; our disposable society needs to change if we are to survive as a species. We are now using 1milion plastic bags per minute. Quite a few countries have banned their use including New Dehli, India, where they were clogging the drains and causing floods. Jeb Berrier travels from city to city and nation to nation illustrating the different ways they are dealing with the problem.

Berrier is sort of a less sarcastic and non confrontational version of Michael Moore. His wife is pregnant with their first child, so he is concerned about his baby's future. The numbers are staggering; 2 million plastic bottles every 5 minutes, requiring 17 million barrels of oil to produce and 12 billion dollars spent every year on bottled water.

Recycling turns out not to be the simple solution either, as every locale has vastly different guidelines with many categories. 260 million tons of plastic ends up in the oceans from around the world annually, resulting in fish and birds, and in one particularity sad example, albatross's ingesting it as food and dying.

The last issue raised is the production of baby bottles and other products requiring BPA to produce. This chemical has been shown to increase the risk of cancer, diabetes, and to drastically alter the hormones levels in newborns.

Berrier has a light touch with an important topic and at 78 minutes, it is well edited with important information without being too preachy and he is a very likable host. Spread the word about this vital documentary and maybe we can make a difference.

Raises awareness, overall slightly lacks analytical perspective. There are only a few, but considerably weird bits with sexual jokes and some gender panic.

This is an issue I actually care a lot about and I had high hopes for it. Sadly, it's just weak. There are a lot of really powerful arguments in favor of their thesis, they just fail to explore any of them. After decades of batting this issue around, the back and forth has pushed both sides to find better arguments. They include only the weakest points in favor of a ban and pretend that the other side is all villains and morons. He doesn't even address the simple, obvious counterpoints and comes across like he has the most naive understanding of the subject. The on-the-street interviews don't even include people who are indifferent or in favor of plastic for purely selfish reasons and just don't care. He doesn't even address the massive amount of plastic that is mandated for public health (bet 2020 was quite the shock for him).

Just counteracting the 10/10 reviews here. It's not there narratively, analytically, production-wise or in delivering on it's promise (any one would suffice). I am not sure it would even qualify as good, perhaps compared to it's counterparts. Defenitively solid background choice though, as it's quite digestable and lively.

To all that rate it 9/10 or 10/10: If you want to be responsible, maybe start with your statements.

This movie drastically changed my life. I was already a reusable bag-user, but it altered my perception on all of the other plastic things in our lives.

It was shocking how much of the side effects/destruction plastic is doing we don't all know, and that's what really inspired me to make a change.

Plastic is SO detrimental, I wish it just wasn't even invented.

I recommend this film to all viewers.

It's not just some hippie documentary, but for all people of all races, classes, age, sex, etc.