Dangerous Business

Judith Helfand's wonderfully quirky documentary, Blue Vinyl, gave us an inside look at the vinyl industry and just what goes into making it. What I really enjoyed was that the film starts out with a woman who presumes to know nothing about the subject. She becomes interested when her parents re-side their house with vinyl and decides to look more closely at what her parents had no problem with using. We find, however, that this is simply because vinyl is cheap. The price is what persuades most families to use it, forgetting the dangerous possibilities that arrive with it. Even Helfand's own father said that he probably still would have used the siding, even after seeing his daughter's research. For him, it all comes down to the price. If Helfand hadn't paid for the new wood siding, would her parent's house still have vinyl siding? Probably so.

Helfand begins by looking at what goes into making vinyl. Vinyl is made up of dangerous chemicals that are particularly toxic when burned. Health is a large concern for Helfand, as she underwent a hysterectomy at a young age because of a dangerous substance that caused cancer in her family. So naturally, Helfand is just a little curious as to what the toxic effects of bio-hazardous chemicals in vinyl would be. If vinyl were to burn, the toxic chemical smoke that would escape during the process would do the most damage. A person exposed to the smoke could easily die if in contact for long enough, and most definitely be plagued with health problems if a for a shorter amount of time. Helfand is especially concerned when she realizes that, if this were to happen to her parent's house, the neighbors would suffer as well.

Hefland takes her camera, along with a piece of blue vinyl siding, along with her as she sets out to get to the bottom of the industry. She travels to Louisiana, California, and even Italy to find out what goes into vinyl. It was especially shocking to me that one of the largest producing plants is in Italy, just beyond Venice's classic skyline. It is sad to see a place that is thought so often to be cultural and untouchable by modern influences overcome by a chemically toxic production plant. What is even worse is to see the health effects the chemicals have on the employees. There are several touching personal stories throughout the film that are meant to show the real consequences of the industry. Widows, daughters, sons, and friends speak to Helfand about losing a loved one only to be hushed by the production company in order to keep bad press away.

More recently, however, it has been difficult to keep bad press away from the vinyl producers. On the PVC-free website as well as several other sites dedicated to ridding the world of vinyl, there are articles and examples of people who have realized the dangers involved and want to change that. Companies like Toys R Us are trying to phase out PVC products and bring in safer options. This seems especially important in places that sell products for children. Why would we give our kids toxic pieces of plastic to chew on?

When Helfand finally re-sides her parent's house with wood, she is unsure of what to do with the vinyl siding that was taken down. This is a real problem because there is no safe way to dispose of vinyl products. It can't really be recycled because there are too many toxic chemicals involved to separate them and make a new, safe product. Most vinyl goes into landfills, which is just as destructive because the chemicals can leach out into the ground and infiltrate drinking water or soil where food is grown. Helfand is not satisfied with either of these options, and decided to take a more creative, campaign stand on the issue. The last scene of the film involves Helfand and her parents stringing the squares of blue vinyl onto Mardi Gras beads. Upon a closer look, the vinyl squares have been equipped with a sticker that informs people on the dangers of vinyl and asks them to not throw the pieces away. While this is a very effective and creative tool for the the promotion of the film and its purpose, it also leaves an open ending. What are people to do with their own discarded vinyl products? I guess that is the point of the film... to make people realize that there is no good way to safely recycle vinyl. So why keep making a product that cannot be reused?

Even though Helfand seems very approachable and like a normal person, we can tell she had money set up to do this project. At least she does finally explain in the end that she used her "uterus money", or money she received in the settlement against the drug company, to fund the film. Without this, would her film have been able to travel such great distances and achieve so much? For women filmmakers who may not have "uterus money" available to them, Helfand has set up a wonderful organization called Chicken & Egg Pictures. This is a non-profit production company available to women filmmakers who need funding for a social justice or human interest film project. The best part about it is that the organization not only gives monetary support, but emotional support and mentorship, as well. Who could ask for more?