I have always enjoyed watching movies, documentaries and reading literature. It provides me a chance to view a particular topic through the lens of the director and broaden my horizons through the understanding that I develop. Through the years, I have watched stunning movies such as Kiss the Ground, WALL-E, An Inconvenient Truth and Interstellar where environmental concerns and the consequences of harm done are depicted using creative ways. However, in this report I would like to talk about the documentary ‘The True Cost' - an Environmental Media Award nominee for Best Documentary Film.

The documentary is on the fashion industry which is deemed as the second largest polluter of the modern world. It talks about the cost borne by the workers of the developing countries and environment to serve western capitalism. The director Andrew Morgan captures the disparity between the developing and the developed world. The documentary depicts how production is outsourced to developing countries with little to no responsibility by multinational fashion companies to produce cheap clothes which further increases consumerism. For example, it talks about an incident of factory collapse and fire in Bangladesh where more than 1000 workers died in a single incident. The documentary talks about the cost of fast fashion choices that we make. It paints a horrifying picture of just how unsustainable the multi trillion dollars making global fashion industry is. While the factories release harmful toxins and companies contaminate the land and soil, there are millions tons of cast off clothing choking the landfills. However, it also shows a positive outlook, an opportunity to use fashion as a tool of development. 

The reason that I chose this documentary is because it gets to the bottom of the supply chain to discover the problem and how we can move forward. It shows how the rich set up polluting industries in developing countries and shift blame on them saying that these countries are majorly responsible for harming the environment. The movie emphasizes that each one of us has the power to not be a victim of fast fashion and ensure that there are no victims in the process of making our clothes.

It is a remarkable documentary as it takes you on a journey to discover the roots of the problem and includes interviews of everyone in the chain from designers to workers. I would be thrilled to hear your opinions on the documentary!