Plagues
& Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Directed
and Photographed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer
Narrated by John Waters
Music by Friends of Dean Martinez
Picture the biggest, most rundown waterfront trailer park retirement community
imaginable, fill it with elderly eccentrics, slap on some Vegas-style
kitsch and you’ve got a good idea of the Salton Sea, the Imperial
Valley, Calif. locale outside of San Diego and Palm Springs that once
was a booming resort town.
Appropriately narrated by John Waters,
with music from Friends of Dean Martinez, Plagues & Pleasures
on the Salton Sea is a feature-length documentary centered on Southern
California’s once great Salton Sea resort area. Accidentally created
in 1905 after re-routing runoff from the Colorado River, the so-called
Salton Sea (actually one of California’s largest saline lakes) and
its surrounding communities thrived as a tourist destination in the ’50s
and ’60s. But after a while tourism declined and the lake’s
water level rose, flooding out whole towns and resort areas. A desert
basin with no place for runoff, the Salton Sea’s water level varies
regularly and has been the site of massive wildlife casualties—mostly
fish and birds. What remains today is the equivalent of a waterfront junkyard,
populated by a cast of (mostly elderly) 
eccentrics.
But most of those who still live there are immensely passionate about
the area, many having stayed in the hopes of some sort of regional renaissance,
either via tourism, business, residential markets or any combination of
those. Needless to say, it has not come.
The Salton Sea is clearly dear to the hearts of the locals and the filmmakers,
but that passion rarely translates beyond the screen. Salinity and pollution
problems still plague the sea, but despite grass roots efforts, which
are only lightly touched upon in the film, residents in the area have
had difficulty finding support for their cause. The sea and its denizens
once had a champion in Sonny Bono, whose congressional district encompassed
the Salton Sea, but when Bono died the area lost its potential big-name
savior. Bono’s wife Mary represents the district now, but has failed
to drum up the interest in revitalizing it that her late husband had.
Shot on video and co-written and directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer,
the doc makes good use of stock footage, including some kitsch promotional
film from the early ’60s and some footage of the 1956 Hungarian
revolution (don’t ask). There’s also some nice usage of a
scrapbook-style graphic to display vintage press clippings and photos
that otherwise might not have had a place in the film. 
Plagues & Pleasures is being released theatrically as a 73-minute feature, and a TV friendly 57-minute cut will air on Sundance Channel in June. There’s plenty here that could have been trimmed and the film probably will be more effective in its shorter version. While the filmmakers have a few solid moments scattered throughout, many important elements—the creation of the Salton Sea, its heyday and potential revitalization via Sonny Bono—are shortchanged in favor of extended interviews with the locals. What effectively could have been an Inconvenient Truth also-ran ends up as largely a cavalcade of crazies reminiscing on the good old days.
5 Blips out of 10 By Aaron Passman
www.saltonseadoc.com
0 Blips out of 10: All evidence of its existence should
be destroyed.
1 Blip out of 10: "Get out of the house!" The
filmmakers should pay you to sit through this.
2 Blips out of 10: "This is so bad it's gone past
good and back to bad again."
3 Blips out of 10: So bad it's good. Midnight movie potential.
4 Blips out of 10: Not recommended. Derivative, predictable
or simply not entertaining.
5 Blips out of 10: A mixed bag. See at your own risk.
6 Blips out of 10: A good film overall. Recommended despite
its flaws. Try a matinee or second-run theater.
7 Blips out of 10: A very good film. Minor flaws are
overshadowed by memorable scenes, dialogue or performances.
8 Blips out of 10: An excellent film. Deserves to be
seen in a first-run theater before viewings at home.
9 Blips out of 10: A potential classic. Achieves excellence
in all the facets of filmmaking, from writing, directing and performance
to photography, editing, sound design and score. See in a first-rate movie
house.
10 Blips out of 10: Cinema magic. An artistic landmark
that will remain a touchstone for future generations of movie fans and
filmmakers.