Gleaners and I, The (2000) Rating: Starring: Bodan Litnanski, François Wertheimer Director: Agnes Varda Category: Documentary Studio: Zeitgeist Subtitles: English Length: 82 mins Want to buy?           An intimate, picaresque inquiry into French life, as lived by the country's poor and its provident, as well as by the film's own director, Agnès Varda. The aesthetic, political and finally moral point of departure for Varda are gleaners, those individuals who pick at already-reaped fields for the odd potato, the leftover turnip, and in previous generations were immortalized by the likes of Millet and Van Gogh. Varda isn't particularly interested in immortalizing today's gleaners but in investigating the reasons that lead the anonymous (desperate and quixotic both) and the celebrated (including a famous chef) to sift through our detritus. Along her journey, Varda constructs a portrait of France that is every bit as modern as the digital camera with which she does her filming, and in the process comes up with her finest, most effective work since Vagabond. [from the New York Film Festival catalogue] WINNER! BEST DOCUMENTARY OF 2001! - New York Film Critics Circle - Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Boston Society of Film Critics -New York Film Critics Online