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PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA
Director of Photography & Directed by Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer.
Produced by Metzler.
Edited by Springer.
Music by Friends of Dean Martinez.
Released by: Docurama.
USA. 73 min. Not Rated.
Narrated by John Waters.
DVD Features: Audio Commentaries with filmmakers & Salton Sea locals. Lost interviews. Deleted scenes. “Leonard & the Mountain” short film; “Miracle In The Desert” real estate promotional film. “Fruit of the Vine” vignette on the Salton Sea skateboarding scene. “LSD a Go Go” short film. Trailer. Filmmaker biographies. Short film on Friends of Dean Martinez.

Fifty miles south of Palm Springs lies a place where the sun constantly shines on what was once considered the fishing capitol of the world. If you have San Diego in mind, guess again. Welcome to Imperial Valley, home of the Salton Sea…adult playground circa 1960-turned-toxic ghost town just decades later. Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea sets out to tell the story of how a once sun-basked haven for chicks, booze, and boating transformed into the wasteland, in every sense of the word, it is today.

The highest entertainment value of the piece is provided by the not-so-in-depth interviews with the yokels…ahem…locals. While adding little insight to the documentary, the following characters might make Plagues worth a watch: Hunky Daddy – the beer wielding mayor of Imperial Valley who moons children as they pass by (to their delight), Donald – elderly nudist who swears he isn't a nude to “get friends or money” (a claim I promise you'll believe), or Leonard – the optimistic local artist who is determined to create a religious tourist attraction that will bring millions of dollars back into the community.

While a seemingly enticing riches-to-rags story, the film doesn't succeed in portraying the “before” Salton Sea as the vacation mecca narrator John Waters and the living-in-the-past locals claim it once was. We're told that it was frequented by the likes of the Marx Brothers, the Beach Boys, and Sonny Bono, but the piece fails to interview even one credible source that could attest to such claims. Additionally, we are not exposed to any footage from the sea's heyday other than occasional quick clips from a promo reel.

It isn't until very late into the film that we learn that Sonny Bono, the credible persona this documentary needed (and needed to introduce early), was an outspoken advocate for saving the Salton Sea through legislation and government funding. However, Bono's involvement as a force in the potential restoration of the Salton Sea during his term as a member of the California House of Representatives isn't given the time it deserves. At the end, we learn that his widow, Mary Bono, continues to champion this cause in his honor, but the lack of an interview with her, or any official whatsoever, leaves a void.

Unless the Salton Sea was once your vacation getaway, you currently reside in Imperial Valley, or one of your friends worked on this film, there is little to get from watching Plagues. The documentary's mission, to portray the transformation of the Salton Sea, is hindered by a jumpy hodgepodge of nonlinear segments. At one point, narrator John Waters describes the sea's current state as a “toxic margarita,” which is exactly what watching Plagues & Pleasures left me yearning for. Matt Alesevich
November 7, 2007