I ran across this 18-minute film called Plastic Bag that Ramin Bahrani directed, wrote, and edited. Despite what you might expect from the title of the 2009 film, the movie is not about the recent environmental debate about plastic bags. Instead, it is about what it means to be human.
The gravity of the film’s themes is amplified by the narration of famous director Werner Herzog. The addition of Herzog’s voice to anything makes it sound important.
Open Culture reports that Plastic Bag was one of several films “released in the Internet Television Service’s Futurestates film series exploring ‘what life might look like in an America of the future.'”
When he was asked to do the narration, Herzog recognized that the short film is about something more than a piece of plastic or arguments about plastic bags. As he explained to The Guardian, “the movie’s about something else, something more … it’s about a journey.”
The film reminds me of Steven Spielberg’s AI: Artificial Intelligence (2001). Plastic Bag takes something non-human, and it discovers something human in the act of taking a journey to find meaning.
You may find the existential movie funny. Or you may find it strange. Or you may find it touching. But Plastic Bag is worth a few minutes of your time. Check it out.
What do you think of Plastic Bag? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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