The documentary “The Gleaners and I” directed by Agnes Varda, captures the age old practice of gleaning. Gleaning is the act of gathering and repurposing garbage, such as produce and in cities broken televisions. Most of the actors being documented glean out of necessity. Some of the actors did this because it was the way they were brought up. What was striking about the film, is it showed just how much food we waste. When people were gleaning in the cities, you can see trashcans filled to the brim with unwanted food. It shows how much food is wasted by people day to day.
i enjoyed this film as well. But for different reasons. i really liked the individual interactions between the director and the people she interviewed. I felt as though i was peeking into some of their brains.. most of them seemed like really nice people but a bit broken, so much so that from just listening to them speak for 5 to 10 minutes you can see they are odd. is this a bad thing… i don’t know. but sadly odd isn’t a very good thing to be in society. specially when you are digging in garbage all day. when someone is disfigured or even crippled our brain tells us they are gross. I feel the same way towards some of the gleaners. my inherent reaction towards them is to feel disgusted by them. Maybe im wrong and these people have completely healthy brains but i doubt it. at least a few of them. I am not speaking about the ones that pick the food from farms but the ones that pick the food from the trash and others that just collect random things from the trash.