Customer Reviews

GARBAGE WARRIOR

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As someone who's been interested in & involved with the sustainability movement for a long time now Mike Reynolds (the "hero" of this documentary) is the type of individual I wish I could have crossed paths with, worked with & learned from in person! This film documents his evolutionary journey from his first buildings in the New Mexico desert to his entrance into the legal arena facing an uphill battle to pass a bill that would allow architects the freedom to experiment with building designs in a controlled environment, to make mistakes & learn from them. Michael presents a compelling case, both to stodgy legislators as well as the audience that this is not only a good idea but absolutely necessary. The essence of his message is that we must redesign society (not just the building codes) to be able to adapt forcefully & gracefully to rapid change. It's a story about unexpected obstacles and the power of an adaptable & persistent spirit in overcoming them. The film takes us to India's Andaman Islands where Mr. Reynolds uses his unconventional building technique to rebuild a community devastated by tsunami and demonstrates how swift positive change can be when not hampered by ideological resistance and red tape. The pacing & flow of the movie are perfect, the musical score is great as well, complimentary to the action & powerful without being overwhelming (or overdramatic). It is even humorous at times like the "romantic" tune playing while Mike's newfound ally (a converted knight for his cause from within the system) works her way through a sea of resistant & skeptical senators to help try to get his bill passed.

Garbage Warrior will not give you the latest cutting edge information about sustainable design (though it certainly is a great primer), nor is it a full biography of Mr. Reynolds (though it covers the period of his life relevant to the film superbly) or of the ins, outs & tangents of the Earthship movement. What it did do, for me, is whet my appetite for more & reminded me why I am interested in this type of thing to begin with. This movie is pure inspiration, what you do with it & where you take it is up to you!

Let me start with the reason for the missing star- there's alot of cursing in this movie. It makes sense coming out of the mouths it comes out of, but it does limit the audience for this incredible documentary. Earthships are cool, but if you have a twelve year old in your life that is interested in environmentalism, art, architecture and whatnot, this movie may just have a few too many f-bombs to show it to them.

Other than that, this is one heck of a great documentary!

You can't watch this movie without becoming immediately obsessed with Earthships. My wife and weren't even half way through this film when we had to start pausing it to discuss ways we might one day incorporate some of the ideas presented in this film into our own property.

The struggle against the local planning board will appeal to your inner libertarian.

What a visionary! Such courage & devotion to throw himself into designing & constructing incredible houses that just captivate you in awe! These homes are out of tires, bottles, cans, & glass & solar/wind power! The movie about this architect is so inspirational & motivating & it opens your eyes to bigger picture of corruption between politicians & certain organizations like the architectural society he was once part of & how much bs influence they have over politicians & the way we live! The 1 guy in the film that filibustered it was the same jackass that looked up at the camera earlier when the Garbage Warrior was making his rounds through the offices & meeting rooms of the State Assembly Building! When I saw him on the Senate floor calling the roster - I pointed him out to my friends who were also watching & belted out "That's your enemy right there! That a#%hole! Look what he's doing! He's filibustering the whole damned thing on purpose!"
In the end though, the Garbage Warrior won of course! Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!!
You must see this film!

This is a documentary about one mans passion. Michael Reynolds has found a way for us to live with the planet. His various experiments with architecture has produced the Earthships. This is the story of his fight against City Hall and what happened after.

The story of a man fighting to build alternative and sustainable housing in New Mexico for 30 years. Yes it's essentially a person fighting "The Man." The film has little to do with how to build sustainable housing, it is all about how to fight the system to get what you believe is right.

There's a little hint in movies to figure out when a director doesn't have much of a story or he didn't film enough serious material, it's a lot of no real purpose shots with music or narration. This film starts off with a good solid 5 or 10 minutes of fluff filler "setting the stage" type footage and narration. A long series of Michael Reynolds driving around and talking.

The theme gets repeated several times throughout the film, only one or two days of filming at the New Mexico capital building made to look like weeks by showing Michael walking here or there. The India trip, lots of on boat scenes and almost nothing of building homes in India.

At one hour and thirty minutes, the film is about 30 minutes too long. There's barely a one hour story in here. The footage touring his house, watching beer can bricks and tire walls made, views of the other houses, the work in India, etc. were all fantastic. This man has an incredible concept, make houses that are not connected to anything - water, electricity, gas, and sewers. At one point, Michael says, "a family of four could live here and never have to leave, not for food, water, or electricity."

The warrior part is Michael's fight against his county to build sustainable houses that do not meet building code. The entire story culminates with about 7 minutes to do, and then is wrapped up with one 10 second title screen. What a let down.

This is Oliver Hodge's first film as director, and it shows. He was a model builder for a number of popular movies, most notably Star Wars Episode 1. Sadly, that is where his talent lies. It's not with feature length film directing.

The sound editor / recorder did a real disservice to this film. What is apparent visually, gets mauled or beaten to death with music or sound effects. Every time the beating of dirt into a tire is shown, the sound man added a sort of explosion. Really bad bad bad sound. Shame on people for doing things that horribly obvious.

This is an R rated film, not because of subject matter, violence, or nudity; it's the dag gone language. F bombs litter this film for no real reason. Yeah, maybe they talk that way, but just not in a film. This would have been G rated if not for all those stupid bombs.

This is a documentary, so some poor camera work is supposed to be excused. In fact that's a rule that should be forgotten, unless it is really live footage, lighting, composition, focus, and camera movements should all be perfect. There is almost no real live footage in this film. And there is no excuse for the number of poorly produced images in this film.

With all the bad that's been described, it would seem like this should be a no star film. The raising up to three is because of the topic and the shreds of useful information and challenge that is shown. Otherwise, it's not so good.

I have been a licensed in California for 21 years and in the industry for 32 years. My practice is a small two man firm that specializes in residential projects. My wife recommended to me to watch this program on the Sundance Channel. I was so blown away that I had to have the DVD. Mike Reynolds is the type of Architect I would have loved to work for in my youth but never met. Knowing what it takes to due conventional residential architecture in the Bay Area, I was astounded to see his creations and his herculean journey through the Planning, Building and State Departments. In my book he is a heroic force in the future of self sufficient home design and truely one of the most inspiriational visionaries I have been exposed to since Frank Lloyd Wright. In my own particular way I have been studying alternative energy options since 1976 at graduate school and now live in a "conventional" home that has photovoltaic solar for power and light, as well as heat for my home office. I would recommend this articulate documentary to anyone interested in the potential for ultimate off-the-grid life style.

Mike shows a lot of determination and heart in doing something that is so taboo and seen as strange in a wealthy and supposedly developed country like America. His innovative homes are comfortable, off-the-grid, warm in winter with no heating, and cool in summer with no air conditioning. Why other developers aren't looking into this is because the system is about profit, and not well-being or the beauty of life. The power companies are greedy and don't want people living off the grid. They'd rather us all continue to be dependent on coal, oil, gas, resources so they can fill their pockets further. It's incredibly short-sighted, and exactly what Mike was trying to go up against...he wanted to get people thinking longer term, which will be needed increasingly in the future.

His team went and built an amazingly sustainable and tsunami-proof home in an area wiped out by the 2004 disaster. They didn't even need drinking wells (which were polluted with sea water and dead bodies) because the home was built to catch rainwater and store that in its own well...more than enough water in a place seemingly with no drinkable water.

These ideas need to get out for the betterment of humanity. Mike said that it seems like people only look at new ideas after a disaster. Maybe it will take one or more disasters in America for people to break out of their shortsighted stupor.

Great, great movie! Anyone interested in alternative lifestyles, building, living or educating themselves needs to watch this movie!
Peace.

What a great movie and also a great concept. Michael Reynolds is a pioneer with his Earthship Biotecture. An inspirational movie if you are a "greenie" at heart. I am definitely glad that I purchased this movie. I have already lended it to many folks in hopes of getting the word out about sustainable architecture.

This is a brilliant film, which has been long overdue. I have heard of Earthships over the decades, but had no idea of Michael Reynolds' brilliance, creativity, passion, determination, persistence, humanity, etc. What a loss if he had failed in any of those areas, but now we can 'see' that he hasn't :) I am so grateful that this film was made and I now have another hero to inspire hope and fortitude in the face of so much human folly and venality.