'Carts of Darkness': Breakneck Binning at the VIFC

We see them all the time: at the back of the bus, surrounded by overstuffed plastic bags and attempting to make conversation with a confused looking twenty-something; battling off raccoons for hidden scores of pop cans in UBC garbage bins; or lying in the sun outside the VAG, smoking the day's butt collection, often looking more at peace than the bustling city which surrounds them. That's right, I speak of our city's visible but enigmatic community of unemployed bottle collectors, a group who find themselves the subject of a hot local documentary which screens at VIFC tonight and Thursday.

Spending a lot of the day either searching for plastic or hauling bags around town, surviving off recycling takes a lot of strength, stamina, and - if they're available - auxiliary can-carrying devices, i.e, shopping carts. Murray Siple's Carts of Darkness follows a group of North Van 'binners' who use their shopping carts as more than mere business-aids; turning them into something like scooters crossed with street luges, cruising and racing down North Vancouver hills at 60kph. The extreme-sport escapism is almost as fascinating as the story of the men themselves, a bracket of Vancouver society often glimpsed but rarely seen.

More on this exciting doc, as well as a trailer, after the jump...

Director Murray Siple is an Emily Carr grad and former resident of Whistler, B.C. He established himself in the 90s as a talented extreme-sports filmmaker, directing a number of ski/snowboarding films until a 1996 car accident rendered him a quadriplegic. After a retreat from filmmaking during this period of adjustment, Murray found inspiration once again in the story of these bottle collectors turned extreme athletes.

Shot with some major visual style, this movie is far more exciting than your typical 'message film', as Siple uses his skills as an extreme-sport photographer to capture these recycling machines in all their high-speed glory. With cart-mounted cameras and pumping music from local rockers like Black Mountain, Ladyhawk, and Bison, the film follows a lot of eXtreme-conventions and is guaranteed to give a unique buzz to even the most hardened adrenaline junkies and fringe sport fans.

Theres much more than just the great sports photography to propel 'Carts of Darkness' beyond a mere 'Vancouver Jackass.' Amongst the morning beers, stolen carts, and broken bones, Stiple really gets to know the North Van collectors Big Al, Bob, and Fergie. This is a group only glanced at by the rest of North Van; as they fly down the hills in Safeway carts or find sleep in highway-side forests. Murray spends time with the men, stripping away cliche while uncovering their history and personalities; attempting to illuminate what put them where they are, and why they keep on doing it.

Murray's own disability offers a point of entry both for his initial interaction with the group and for our own engagement with the story. The parallels drawn between Siple's history and those of the men weave a tale of adversities overcome; a peek into the common human need for escape (high-speed or not); and a compelling case for the universality of human experience in general. Enough of my jabbering, here's a trailer:

Beyond Robson's been covering 'Carts of Darkness' since long before I joined the team, but since we last spoke of the documentary its had a number of screenings in Canada and has been met with some highly positive reception. Theres also a bunch of clips from the film and an interview with Siple up at the NFB, so definitely check those out if you need more convincing.

Carts of Darkness is playing tonight at 9:15 and Thursday at 7:30 at the VIFC. Director Murray Siple will be in attendance, available for Q&A afterwards.

header photo by Simon Clarke of the BR flickr group