The Gleaners and I

With a newfangled digital camera in hand, seventysomething director Agnès Varda embarks on an odyssey to consider modern-day gleaners, or scavengers, using Jean-Francois Millet's 1867 iconic painting of three women stooping in a post-harvest wheat field as a starting point. Interviewing former and modern-day gleaners, what emerges from this documentary portrait is not only evidence of the indomitable human spirit ("we are not afraid to get our hands dirty," states one truck driver who lost his job and his family after driving drunk, "we can always wash our hands"), but also of a wasteful consumer society. One of the film's most memorable subjects (along with Varda herself) is a young man who scavenges fruits and vegetables from the local street market and devotes his time to teaching his neighbors at a homeless shelter how to read and write. Never preachy, this humanistic film is a found treasure indeed and is highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include brief production notes from Agnes Varda, filmography, and--wow!--Varda's spring 2002-created French follow-up sequel, the hour-long, The Gleaners and I, Two Years Later. Bottom line: the sequel is like getting two films in one--great extras package for an excellent documentary.] (K. Lee Benson)