GARBAGE WARRIOR

US, 2008, 86 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Oliver Hodge.

Sounds like people throwing litter at each other but, no, this is a much more serious documentary than that.

Michael Reynolds is a trained architect who opted out of traditional designing in the 1970s and began to study how to build in an environment under threat, to design buildings that were friendly to their surroundings and even incorporated into their materials stuff that was being tossed out as garbage. He worked in New Mexico.

Reynolds is a blend of the amiable and the curmudgeonly. He is single-minded in his mission to build homes, build townships that utilise his insights for eco-friendly power, lighting, sewerage systems. Not all of his creations have been successes and he has been sued by dissatisfied customers. However, he has gathered a group of devotees.

All this is presented very interestingly by director, Oliver Hodge. However, Hodge also followed Reynolds' campaign to be reinstated as an architect after his state and then his national licenses were revoked. He also tried to introduce bills into the New Mexico legislature but was thwarted vigorously by politicians who wrote him off as a crank or who, when Reynolds employed a lively lobbyist, filibustered to prevent a vote. This is where he became a political garbage warrior.

The film also shows Reynolds and his friends travelling to the tsunami-hit Andaman islands and putting his theories into practise to overcome the damage to infrastructure there. This still did not persuade the politicians. It was only in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes where they did similar repair work which was environmentally sound that the legislation was passed and Reynolds regained his respectability.

Garbage Warrior is always interesting as is Reynolds himself and his wife and friends (warts and all). His lead for environmental architecture and use of materials opens up all kinds of possibilities.

1.Quality documentary, the craft and skill in filming, editing? The period, the years, Mike Reynolds’ work? Politics?

2.The impact of the visuals? Mike Reynolds and the way he was photographed, Chris and the interviews? The variety of characters, associates? The politicians in action, preventing the legislation? The variety of houses, New Mexico, the Andaman Islands, the post-cyclone US?

3.The musical score, the range of songs, the period, their comment on characters and action?

4.Audiences agreeing or disagreeing with Mike Reynolds’ stances, philosophy? His point of view? His vision, the importance of testing homes, in the environment – and his comment about bombs and cars being tested?

5.Mike Reynolds and his life, background as an architect and his studies, the criticisms of him, his experiences, his philosophy of crisis and development through crisis, learning through crises? Using garbage, the variety of examples, the buildings, the landscapes of New Mexico, the land he acquired, the houses with water, power, sewage and sewerage? The settlement’s developing? The contract with clients? Success – and clients suing him for failure?

6.His personality, genial, determined, prickly, his wife and her comments, his friends, seeing him in action, building, learning, the passing of the years, the issue of legislation?

7.The difficulties, losing his licence, the reasons?

8.His bringing in the legislation? Getting a suit? The attention to details, the range of interviews, the politicians quibbling about words, phraseology? The deadlines, the filibusters in the senate? The repeat attempts to get the legislation through? The sympathetic lobbyist, her efforts, still losing?

9.The tsunami, his going to the Andaman Islands, the interviews with the locals, the devastation, the poverty, his team, using the debris, building the homes? The ability to get water without wells? The appreciation of the people?

10.The corresponding American experience, the hurricanes, the disasters and destruction, the needs for building? Mike and his team, their achievement?

11.The impact of this building, the legislation passing?

12.Mike’s efforts and their being well documented? The importance of his experience, his themes for the environment? Issues of law, the environment, the threat to the planet – and the need for some vision ahead of its time?