UK Release Date: 25-07-2007
UK Certificate: 12A
Director: Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer
Country: US
Distributor: www.saltonseadoc.com
Rating:

It’s exactly 100 years since an engineering error led to the creation of a vast, yet now largely forgotten, lake in southeast California known as the Salton Sea. The result of a poorly thought-out irrigation plan, the lake was reinvented in the 1950s as a plush vacation resort, but a series of hurricanes, floods and fish die-offs left it virtually abandoned by the cocktails-and-waterskiing set.
This charming documentary celebrates the hardy eccentrics who stayed on. Accompanied by an apt voiceover from John Waters, the film roams around the communities that cling on to the lakeshores amid derelict cafés and piles of fish skeletons. On the way, we meet a bug-eyed exile from the Hungarian revolution called Hunky Daddy, an outsider artist building a multicoloured holy mountain out of mud and paint, and a roadside Christian nudist smiling beatifically at passing cars. All seem enriched by the fact that the American Dream is no longer in their sights, leaving them to enjoy the life they’ve been left with.
The Salton Sea is still facing environmental crisis today, as the nearby megalopolises of LA and San Diego threaten to drink up the agricultural run-off waters that barely sustain the lake. Plagues and Pleasures reveals what a sad loss it would be if this inspiring wreck of a place was turned to dust forever.
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