Yesterday on a whim, I Tivo-ed the documentary "Carts of Darkness", which has been playing on Sundance. The film was directed by Murray Siple, a snowboarder-turned filmmaker who was surprised to find out about a group of homeless Canadian men who make their living recycling bottles, but spice things up by racing their shopping cart down the hills of North Vancouver.
I'm a big fan of documentaries, and this one is bursting with personality and invention. The race sequences capture the adrenaline-fueled thrill of putting one's life in the hands of something as unstable as a shopping cart. The movie's main subject, Al, is a force of nature to say the least. Fans of "Trailer Park Boys" will recognize more than a little "Ricky" in him.
Al is a compelling figure. My favorite moment in the documentary was when he takes the filmmaker to a bunch of stores to analyze the carts. It was inspiring to see his connoisseurship of something as common and utilitarian as shopping carts was as intense as any designer or collector.
Siple also examines Al's lifestyle within the larger world of "mainstream" bottle collectors. The whole film is an empathetic treatment of a subculture within a subculture that is invisible to most of us. Freedom isn't free...it comes with a ten cent deposit.
