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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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Redemption: Honor and Pathos in New York
The text that appears at the beginning of this film is:
In New York empty cans and bottles can be redeemed for 5 cents. For unemployed New Yorkers “Canning” is a growing profession.
Directed by Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill, “Redemption” follows a handful of “canners” of various ethnicities, genders, and nations of origin as they roam the streets of New York collecting cans and bottles in large plastic bags, and walking or rolling them to stores or redemption centers where they place their treasures—one at a time—into large vending machines. The redeemers (my word for them) speak of their work and their former lives—most, if not all, had full time jobs.
There are some who will receive “Redemption” as an image of the United States at its worst, and others who will admire the spirit of free enterprise motivating the redeemers and the city which supports this particular system of recycling. There are very few, though, who will view and listen to this film and not be deeply touched and moved.
An HBO documentary short, “Redemption” has been nominated for an Academy Award.