The past decade has been full of environmental appeals asking us to recycle, make use of reusable containers and bags, and the degradation of the world around us. Some are clearly more effective than others, but this short film by Ramin Bahrani uses the narrative format to create something that’s fresh, strange, and interesting all at the same time.
“Plastic Bag” is the story of a plastic grocery store bag from its moment of inception (being pulled off of the rack at the market). After being utilized by its human “maker” for some time, the bag is discarded and spends much of its life searching for its maker. Never finding its human counterpart, the bag realizes it has outlived humankind and resolves to find the “vortex,” a place where it could find others like itself.
The vortex refers to the Pacific Garbage Vortex, a huge whirlpool of marine litter in the Pacific Ocean.
The short film comes in the midst of new plastic bag taxes and research continuing to support the idea that plastic bags can take anywhere from 20 years to thousands of years to degrade in the environment. Wherever you stand on the environment, “Plastic Bag” is a beautifully depicted narrative of the life of a plastic bag with a horribly tragic ending, one that we’re all guilty of contributing to in some regard.
