Movie Review Friday -- 24 Hours on Craigslist

Escape to the movies with one of our Movie Friday selections. Each week we review a film with environmentally or socially-responsible themes that’s currently in theaters or available on DVD.

Seen a good eco-flick lately? Send us a review of 100 words or less and look for your review in the next Movie Friday!

24 Hours on Craigslist (2005)
Available on DVD

Not all transactions conducted via craigslist.org count as recycling — not technically, at least. But what began as San Francisco resident Craig Newmark's personal email list of goods for sale or exchange has within a few short years become arguably the world's most active recycling/reuse network.

Made with Newmark's permission, this multi-award-winning, caffeine-tempo documentary intersperses recountings of "ultimate Craigslist stories" with footage of transactions initiated throughout the San Francisco Bay Area on a single day--August 4, 2003--from a couple selling all their possessions in order to afford a trip around the world to a guy selling a "prosthetic beer gut." It's a bit self-congratulatory in an "aren't we zany?" vein, but provides powerful, painless lessons in reducing waste and sidestepping the standard consumer cycle.

—Review by Anneli Rufus