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

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.