The Starfish Throwers (2013) (original) (raw)
Synopsis
Powerful, direct and heartrending, The Starfish Throwers explores how three of the world's most fiercely compassionate individuals struggle to restore hope to the hopeless in unexpected and sometimes dangerous ways. Continents apart, a sixth grader, a top chef and retired school teacher fight what seems an unwinnable war until they discover their impact may reach further than their action
Popular reviews
(Watched for Auburn University’s 2023 Week of Service)
A pretty average documentary that drags, especially towards the end. The people within are obviously great people doing things for a good cause, but their actions feel mundane due to the poor direction, which is not quite the feeling this documentary should be pushing. It also fails to show the true extent of suffering within these communities, focusing on the saviors, which makes it feel like very feel good. (It probably doesn’t help this feel good movie was shown to me at a majority white college after I did a gut wrenching poverty simulation in an air conditioned gymnasium, but I digress.) Overall- the best part of this film was the Starfish Thrower Story, and the “It made a Difference to That One” acting as a haunting like that’s stuck with me for years, but other than that, it’s pretty mediocre and just hard to sit through.
The guy had a refrigerator version of the backrooms. Like 20 fridges filled with sandwiches. They specified 15,034 sandwiches. He then led children into his van to “take them to McDonald’s” or “give them sandwiches.” Something’s up and I’m gonna get to the bottom of it.
Edit: my friend just said that he’s giving them his McD which might be the greatest joke anyone has ever made
The 3rd movie I saw at the local docfest.
I don't know if it was because I was getting tired and hadn't eaten but I was super emotional during this movie. NOw I should say the movie was going for the heart full blown. Slightly heavy handed at times.\
That being said the 3 'starfish throwers' are truly inspirational.. Overwhelmingly good and sacrificing people it would be very hard not to be touched. the film does well to weave the 3 stories. defiantly recommend that high school kids see this
This is not a documentary. It's a Public Service Announcement. With no conflict, no explanation of why these people do what they do ("Because they're generous!"), no examination of the complexities or contradictions of what they do (is taking a bunch of hungry schoolchildren to McDonald's every day not something that bears deeper scrutiny?), this film fails as a documentary. A friend described it as a Kickstarter promotional video on a loop for 90 minutes. Hot Docs's reputation is weaker for its inclusion.
Overall, a very strong documentary, this follows three different people in different parts of the world (South Carolina, Minnesota, and India) that all really represent individuals that started by trying to help the hungry on an individual basis and have built those things up into something bigger, using the story of a kid on a beach throwing beached starfish back into the ocean to address the small scope these all still have compared to the very large problem that is world hunger.
For the most part, I think that the film is well put together, I do think it mostly does a good job of telling each of the stories while balancing them, and the way it's edited together actually…
last week of service doc, best week of service doc. huge respect for everyone in this.