Educational Media Reviews Online

Told from an accessible, first-person account, this documentary film pursues the question, “If plastic never deteriorates, where does it go?” Angela Sun, a journalist, television presenter, and sportscaster, talks to experts in various fields and makes many stops around the world to find the answer. The film sheds light on the pervasiveness of synthetic plastics, which have irrevocably changed the built and natural environments since their development at the beginning of the 20th century. Archival clips celebrating plastic as a revolutionary material provide a chilling contrast to the serious, global consequences that the film uncovers.

Sun’s journey culminates in a visit to Midway Atoll, an unincorporated territory of the United States at the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago. The islands lie in the path of the South Pacific Gyre, collecting massive amounts of plastic debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Plastic Paradise does an effective job of highlighting an environmental disaster that is little known and otherwise hard to describe, as the “patch” is dispersed over a large area under the surface of the ocean. The film provides insight on the effects of plastic debris on the environment, but also demonstrates how the issue comes back around to damage our own health and well-being. Plastic Paradise covers a lot of ground in just under an hour, and is a great introduction to a range of important contemporary issues – material streams, corporate environmental responsibility, environmental activism, toxins and human health, ocean ecology – told from a simple, inquiring point of view.