Trashed

Introduction

“Trashed” is a 2012 British environmental documentary film, written and directed by Candida Brady and presented by actor Jeremy Irons who travelled around the world to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem. The documentary is a call to minimise waste and the use of plastics, and shows the destructive ecological effect of waste disposal and how pollution of our natural environment with toxic chemicals such as dioxins, furans and PCBs poisons our food production and endangers human health.

Jeremy Irons convinced his friend Vangelis to compose original music for the documentary, which he donated to the project for free. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on the 22nd of May 2012, after which it screened in over 40 countries and 60 film festivals, with special screenings organised at the European Parliament as well as national assemblies in the UK, Scotland, Wales and France.

Vangelis composed about an hour of music for the documentary, which in most scenes is softly mixed in the background and appears rather fragmented throughout. The opening sequence is an ominous and throbbing theme, while the rest of the score mostly consists of short atmospheric electronics and incidental music, on occasion reminiscent of “Francesco” (1989), “The City” (1990), “Bitter Moon” (1992) and “Alexander” (2004). The closing sequence features a reflective theme on piano and keyboards. Despite positive reviews of Vangelis’ music it was never officially released on a soundtrack album.

On the 22nd of April 2013 Trashed was released on DVD and streaming media. To experience the documentary in recommended high-definition video either select a supported streaming video service, or find a copy of the German blu-ray titled “Weggeworfen”.

Details and credits

Title: Trashed
Year: 2012
Country: UK
Length: 97 minutes
Written and directed by Candida Brady.
Presented by Jeremy Irons.
Music by composed and performed by Vangelis.
Music sound engineer: Vangelis Saitis.
Art direction and graphic: Gary Waller
Editors: Neal Davies, James Coward, Kate Coggins and Jamie Travill.
Director of Photography: Sean Bobbitt B.S.C
Additional photography: Titus Ogilvy and Peter Ditch.
Associate producer: Tabitha Troughton
Executive producers: Jeremy Irons, Tom Wesel, Candida Brady, Titus Ogilvy and Rose Ganguzza.
Produced by Candida Brady and Titus Ogilvy.

Media

Blu-ray

2013 Sunfilm Entertainment 29836 Germany “Weggeworfen” (includes English and German audio, and German subtitles)

DVD

2013 Blenheim films UK and US.
2013 Destiny Films France.
2013 CG Home Video PSV20737 Italy
2013 Sunfilm Entertainment 22836 Germany “Weggeworfen” (includes English and German audio, and German subtitles)
2013 Blenheim films CPDP-1151 Taiwan

Synopsis

Jeremy Irons stands on a beach beside the ancient Lebanese city of Sidon. Above him towers a mountain of rubbish-a pullulating eyesore of medical waste, household trash, toxic fluids and dead animals-the result of thirty years of consumption by just one small city out of how many in the world? As the day's new consignments are tipped on top, debris tumbles off the side and into the blue of the Mediterranean. Surrounded by a vast reach of plastic bottles, a forlorn Jeremy Irons stares at the horizon. "Appalling," he mutters.

In “Trashed”, produced and directed by British filmmaker Candida Brady, Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from scepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope. Brady's narrative is vividly propelled by an original score created by Academy Award winning composer Vangelis.

The beauty of our planet from space forms a violent contrast to the scenes of human detritus across the globe. Vast landscapes in China are covered in tons of rubbish. The wide waters of the Ciliwung River in Indonesia are now barely visible under a never-ending tide of plastic. Children swim among leaking bags; mothers wash in the sewage-filled supply. Each year, we now throw away fifty-eight billion disposable cups, billions of plastic bags, 200 billion litres of water bottles, billions of tons of household waste, toxic waste and e-waste.

We buy it, we bury it, we burn it and then we ignore it. Does anyone think about what happens to all the trash we produce? We keep making things that do not break down. We have all heard these horrifying facts before, but with Jeremy Irons as our guide, we discover what happens to the billion or so tons of waste that goes unaccounted for each year. On a boat in the North Pacific he faces the reality of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the effect of plastic waste on marine life. We learn that chlorinated dioxins and other man-made Persistent Organic Pollutants are attracted to the plastic fragments. These are eaten by fish, which absorb the toxins. We then eat the fish, accumulating more poisonous chemicals in our already burdened bodies. Meanwhile, global warming, accelerated by these emissions from landfill and incineration, is melting the ice-caps and releasing decades of these old poisons, which had been stored in the ice, back into the sea. And we learn that some of the solutions are as frightening and toxic as the problem itself.

The film demonstrates that by changing the way we live our lives, we can contribute to our own survival and well-being and ultimately that of the planet.

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