With the environmental damage of plastic widely accepted, Ben Addelman’s and Ziya Tong’s doc looks closely on its physical damage
An incidental insight form Ben Addelman’s and Ziya Tong’s disconcerting documentary is how long some of the false advertising claims from bygone eras outlast as assumed facts in the collective knowledge. Milk is good for you, juice is a great source of vitamins and plastic is something of a marvel material, capable of adjusting its features to whatever is needed. Hard or soft, elastic or sturdy, transparent or opaque. It is endlessly modifiable, easily available, easy to discard and ridiculously cheap. It is also harmful, not to say: deadly. Which turn its appealing assets into dangerous detriments, because plastic is everywhere.
This unsettling omnipresence of the titular component doesn’t stop at the stomachs of seabirds swollen with plastic waste, the cluttered beaches in South East Asia, and not even at the depths of the oceans where microplastics can be traced. It can also be found in our brains, as a neurosurgeon and a neurological specialist explain to co-writer Tong, and there they can contribute to the development of severe cognitive impairments such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. Plastic has literally gotten to our head. Not only as something advertising has trained us to perceive as colourful, clean and harmless. Which points to the limitations of the alarming account.
While the taking heads style doesn’t make for engaging visuals, the diligent digest of plastic’s history of harm takes care to back its scientific statements with depictions and data. However, the socio-structural impact of plastic and its problems is only grazed. The lack of suitable substitutes isn’t only hinted at. That the already disadvantaged people most affected by microplastics and toxins could also be the ones hit hardest by a plastic ban making essential products unavailable or inaccessible, is never explored. Nevertheless, the concise documentary’s findings mostly well-known points are important to establish. Especially since the titular product is much harder to get out of one’s system than ad slogans.
- OT: Plastic People
- Director: Ben Addelman
- Screenplay: Ben Addelman, Ziya Tong
- Year: 2024
- Distribution | Production © Rainmaker Content
