This was my first film which was a record by Agnes Varda and I don't know what can I say now. It was very different from what I have watched anything until today. Actually, it is a documentary about any kind of gleaners: Rubbish, food, fruit and secondhand stuff. Agnes Varda has worked too much on this piece and she has made interviews with many people who are doing collecting something. Firstly, we see some agriculture gleaners and their life. In many zones, people are waiting for harvest time to collect remaining crops and also the law is allowing these stuff like that way. The people who need something are providing food and money by selling their stuff to themselves and at the same time, the remaining products are not wasted in that way. For instance, for the potato, factory and field owners are collecting potato that has a nice shape and enough weight. The others left in the field or going to rubbish so this means opportunity for many gleaners. Secondly, there was a man who is collecting some second-hand goods from the street and rubbish and then he used them for his works of art. He is giving correct shape to them and bringing them together for use in his works and he says ''I like secondhand stuff and doing some kind of arts with them because they have memories and I am giving second chance to them by using in my works.'' This sentence affect me too much and I asked myself ''Are goods have an experience or memories?'' obviously he is looking from another side of the window to his life. Thirdly there was another guy who studying for a doctorate and he is collecting food from the bazaar in the city to saving his money. And he is living in a kind of shelter with a lot of immigrants. He said that fifty percent of people in this building don't know literate and he is giving a course to teach reading and writing in French for free. We see a part of their class and I can say this scene was very impressive. They are making some jokes with each other and look very happy. At this moment I was thinking about we are all happy when we realized some little things to make us happy and be thankful for our life. Also in the documentary, you can see some clues about 90s France. All in all, I liked it and I am happy to watch this documentary. In this text, I tried to explain some points that remain in my mind. I have learned some interesting information and have experienced very different kind of film.
Review of The Gleaners & I
