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Pictures Of Cervical Cancer

Blue Vinyl Judith Helfand, Daniel B. Gold. 98 minutes. Toxic Comedy Pictures LLC.

What initially appears as a poke at suburban domestic kitsch ("Get a load of the vinyl siding on those Long Island ramblers!") is peeled away in this Sundance-feted documentary to reveal something far more textured, and humane. Co-director Helfand's own parents are among those who've helped produce a new vinyl-sided home every three seconds; yet her own bout with cervical cancer (profiled in her earlier film, A Healthy Baby Girl) informs her work as an activist documentarian exposing chemical pollution.

The filmmakers travel to Lake Charles, Louisiana ("The Vinyl Capital of America"), to discover evidence of environmental hazards and corporate nondisclosure, and to a landmark trial in Venice, Italy, where 31 industry executives are charged with manslaughter for the deaths of workers exposed to toxic levels of polyvinyl chloride. Helfand then brings it all back home, ultimately convincing her obstinate parents to remove the siding from their home. While the merits of making an often comic film about a looming environmental crisis are debatable, the optimism isn't entirely misplaced in this case. Blue Vinyl suggests that if you can radicalize your parents, perhaps anything is possible.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Foundation for National Progress
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