Simply Perfect

Purely Joyful Movie!

good back-story, and good acting

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

it's awful because it is about dirt and it was boring, but if it was made into a musical, I'd dig it! Dirt is a dry movie. There is no heart and soil in it as it describes in the tag line. I was super excited for this movie only for it to be one I wish I could bury in my backyard. It lacked substance. I was really looking forward to using this movie for my class on environmental biology for the dirt chapter, but it would put my students to sleep. Yes, all those puns were intended, as that's the type of person I am. Haha. Don't watch this movie. I found nothing positive to add to this review because it was just a waste of my time. For your own sanity, please do not watch the movie Dirt!, unless it is recreated in a more entertaining manner.

Dirt! The Movie systematically and cyclically lays out the relationship between dirt and humankind. The film makes a strong case for taking care of the environment and sustaining the soil. Everything we do from agriculture to mining impact the soil. The recurring theme is that dirt is a living organism, and without it, human life will not continue as we know it.Overall this film gives a fair account of the environmental impact of dirt, and the importance of sustainable practices to keep our dirt, and ourselves, alive and healthy. There are a couple accounts of religious connections with dirt, and potential environmental impacts that some would view as over the top. If this film is viewed with an open mind it can provide knowledge and insight to a topic that is more important than many realize, and the dirt animations give a fun perspective to the dirt's side of the story!

I imagine some film-school graduates daring each other to make an interesting movie on a boring topic and one of them comes up with, yep, dirt. This documentary makes a few interesting points about the environment but after watching it I still don't sense its raison d'etre. I enjoyed listening to a few of the talking heads, including such unconventional choices as an ebullient female African Nobel winner, and another lively woman, an activist in India, but this documentary suffers from having too vague and sprawling a focus. Was it really necessary to film an open-eyed suicide victim in India, surrounded by his disadvantaged family and all those buzzing flies? This movie just didn't grab me!

Dirt! did a good job of touching on important issues facing soil today - monoculture, artificial fertilizer, soil erosion, desertification, slash and burn, etc - as well as some solutions for better soil care and conservation - compost, polyculture. What it did a poor job of was presenting how all the issues are interrelated through physical and biological processes (e.g. nitrogen cycle, life and death). The formation and roles of soil were sadly under-explained. The viewer is left with a scattershot impression of trouble but the big picture is woefully incomplete.My sense is that the documentarian wanted to emphasize the spiritual and emotional rather than the scientific or even economic aspects. This bias makes it a good film for the uninitiated - those who need to be impressed with the value of the 'skin of the Earth' - but those who keep abreast of ecological disasters-in-the-making would probably prefer a film with a more compelling, cohesive, substantive narrative.Too bad, because soil is an extremely important resource, and everyone should know its value and the consequences of mismanagement. Dirt! delivers the right message, but if only it would deliver it more persuasively...