It's hard to associate the uber-groomed, aquiline-profiled Jeremy Irons ("Damage," "Die Hard: With a Vengeance") with garbage. But in the documentary "Trashed," which focuses on the problem of global waste, Irons wallows in it. From Lebanon to Iceland and South Wales to Vietnam, Irons strides cities and countrysides to examine what's going in the Earth's landfills and incinerators.
"From up here, our planet looks perfect," Irons intones, to a shot of the Earth viewed from space. The camera then makes a rapid descent onto a landfill, and Irons' continuing narrative that this is where our consumption habits have taken us strikes home. The Earth is literally choking in rubbish.
Directed by Candida Brady, "Trashed" throws out some daunting facts: 200 billion plastic bottles are thrown out each year. Fifty-eight billion disposable cups are burned in incinerators, creating mass pollution. Irons walks up and down a beach in Lebanon where the blue Mediterranean Sea creates a startling contrast with the garbage dump located just a few hundred meters away. Irons looks truly depressed as he walks around the dump to finally take a seat — on top of a pile of trash. "This is deplorable," he murmurs, and he almost appears to weep.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.