Humorously narrated by cult filmmaker John Waters, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea evokes both laughter and tears. This entertaining and unusual documentary shows how an area once known as the “California Riviera” turned into a decaying ecological disaster. But its more important story involves the eccentric communities now surrounding the Sea.  

Activist filmmakers Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer like to point out that their award-winning movie features “Hungarian Revolutionaries, Christian Nudists, Pop Stars, Land Sharks, Hard Drinkers, Empty Cities, Failed Resort Towns, Tons of Dead Fish, a Dying Café, and a Man Who Built a Mountain.” They call attention to the Salton Sea through interviews with the few people still living there. While watching and listening to these diverse individuals, I felt very sad about the conditions they describe, yet amused at some of the experiences they relate. And I couldn’t help admiring the lifestyles they’ve developed in spite of the wasteland (with its overpowering dead-fish smell) depicted here.

I was particularly fascinated by the Hungarian “mayor” who’s finally found a place he loves, the café owner who’s sad to be closing his business after so many years, the welfare mother who’s happy to raise her children in a relatively crime-free environment, and the religious man whose main goal in life involves building a monument to God, hoping it will make the Salton Sea a Mecca for tourists once again.

An engineering error accidentally created the Salton Sea back in 1905, and it was revamped into a vacation destination in the 1950s. Unfortunately, a series of hurricanes and floods resulted in abandoning BIG plans for the area. Although the late Congressman Sonny Bono tried to save the lake, it’s now threatened because Los Angeles and San Diego are attempting to take the agricultural run-off that just barely sustains the Sea, which could dry up and cause severe dust storms throughout California.     

“Don’t fool with Mother Nature,” the old saying goes. Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea reminds us that if you try, you’d better have a back-up plan. 

(Released by Tilapia Film; not rated by MPAA. For more information, please visit the official site at www.saltonseadoc.com.)

Listen to filmmakers Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer discuss Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea by clicking on this BlogTalkRadio link.