Tuesday Review – Dive!
Dive!: Living Off America’s Waste (2010) NR
On Netflix streaming you find all sorts of treasures. This short documentary (54 minutes) is one of them.
In a frank and ungarnished style Director Jeremy Seifert ( also: Writer | Cinematographer | Producer | Editor) examines the issue of waste by big stores and gets into the dumpster diving lifestyle.
It’s not a polished big budget film by any stretch, but the material is compelling and the honesty and passion that Seifert brings to the task more than outweigh the faults.
The biggest thing that Seifert uncovers (no pun intended) is that the Big LA supermarkets literally waste thousands of dollars worth of perfectly good food on a daily basis. This in a world where too many go hungry. His attempts to get the corporate fat cats to at least let him take and distribute the food are met with if not resistance, then outright hostility. This in spite of federal regulation that makes it safe for them to donate the food.
It’s an eye-opening, impressive and sad bit of investigational film-work. It will never win any awards but it should be required viewing in big corporate food boardrooms. Fat chance.
