Bullfrog Films continues its crusade to reveal inconvenient truths by releasing "The True Cost" on DVD. This documentary on the garment industry emphasizes the many negative impacts of providing consumers inexpensive garments. The more specific theme is that the enormous decreases in the costs of what we wear has catastrophic consequences of which we are unaware as we toss the latest irresistible bargain in the closet.
The most compelling aspect of this film is the stark contrast between seeing the glamour shots of models strutting about in the latest fashions alongside the images of the conditions in which those clothes are made. This does an excellent job providing perspective.
A highly related and deeply impactful aspect of the above occurs in Bangladesh; a factory owner there perfectly expresses the theme of "Cost" in explaining how the highly competitive nature of the industry requires regularly lowering what he charges for his goods; the "cost' associated with this is that he must make his workers absorb that lost revenue.
A subsequent segment on the horrific working conditions in these factories emphasizes its point by documenting a particularly bad incident and the regular occurrences of mass tragedies. The numerous interviewes with workers include a first-hand account of someone who survives the aforementioned high-profile disaster.
On this side of the world, we visit an enormous cotton field and learn of the hidden sides of growing that crop. We further see separate YouTube videos of teen girls who delight in having far more clothes than they need or even will wear.
We further see the incredible waste associated with this excess in much the way that the (reviewed) Bullfrog documentary "Just Eat It" makes us think about the tons of food that gets tossed. Comparable to the estimate in that film that more than 30 percent of edible food in the United States ends up getting thrown away, potentially just as large a percentage of clothes never get worn or at least are highly extraneous. One common culprit is an economic system that keeps prices artificially low and supply proportionately artificially high at the expense of the population of the world that is at the bottom of the food chain.
The DVD special features are a "making of" short and the theatrical trailer for the film.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Cost" is strongly encouraged to email me; you alternatively can connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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