Documentary overview

About Plastic Wars (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

Have efforts to solve the plastic pollution problem made it worse? Go inside the battle over plastics, recycling and what’s at stake. Despite efforts spreading across America to reduce the use of plastic and the crisis of ocean pollution growing, the plastics industry is rapidly scaling up new production and promoting a familiar solution: recycling. But it’s estimated that no more than 10% of plastic produced has ever been recycled. The documentary “Plastic Wars,” from FRONTLINE and NPR, reveals how plastic makers for decades have publicly promoted recycling, despite privately expressing doubts that widespread plastic recycling would ever be economically viable. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, The John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler

Plastic Wars (full documentary) | FRONTLINE is presented by FRONTLINE PBS | Official. Its listed runtime is 53 minutes. The source link and publisher attribution are provided with the embedded film.

As a society documentary, Plastic Wars (full documentary) | FRONTLINE uses plastic, frontline as its central frame. Social documentaries work best as invitations to examine systems through lived experience. Distinguish individual testimony from wider claims, and consider which institutions, incentives and inequalities shape the choices shown.

Viewing context

What to consider before watching

  1. What evidence, testimony or observation does the film use to explain plastic, frontline?
  2. Which people, institutions or historical conditions most influence the story told in Plastic Wars (full documentary) | FRONTLINE?
  3. How does FRONTLINE PBS | Official's framing affect the documentary's emphasis, and which perspectives may deserve further research?
Subjects

Topics covered in this documentary

Societyplasticfrontline
Film information

Documentary details and original source

Title
Plastic Wars (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
Category
Society
Runtime
53 minutes
Language
English

Free Documentary Vault provides independent discovery, organization and editorial context. The film remains hosted by its original publisher, who controls availability and playback.

Continue exploring
NRA Under Fire (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
NRA Under Fire (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

For years, the National Rifle Association wielded its political power to dominate America’s conversation about gun rights and gun control — outlasting and overpowering the calls for change that followed mass shooting after mass shooting, from Columbine to Newtown to Charleston. But as the 2020 election approaches, the once-unrivaled organization is facing both internal strife and a rising external threat: a movement led by student survivors of the Parkland mass shooting, whose gun-control advocacy has kept the issue in the headlines and motivated a groundswell of politicians willing to take on the NRA. Once an unrivaled political power, the NRA is facing challenges from all sides. FRONTLINE investigates the organization’s history and evolution, how it aligned with President Donald Trump and his base, and why it is under attack ahead of the 2020 election. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

NRA Under Fire (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety
Caught in India’s AIDS Crisis | India: The Sex Workers (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World documentary thumbnailEN21 min
Caught in India’s AIDS Crisis | India: The Sex Workers (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

A 2004 examination of India’s AIDS crisis through the eyes of girls and young women sold into sex work, originally aired as part of the FRONTLINE/World series. (Aired 2004) Starting with “India: The Sex Workers,” we are making episodes from FRONTLINE/World’s archive newly available here on the original video platform and on pbs.org as part of an effort to make our past reporting widely accessible. Originally developed by FRONTLINE producers in conjunction with public television stations KQED San Francisco and WGBH Boston, FRONTLINE/World launched in 2002 as a national public TV series that turned its lens on the global community, covering countries and cultures rarely seen on American television. The series completed its final broadcast season in 2010. At the time this FRONTLINE/World documentary was filmed, more than two million women and girls were working in India’s sex trade, and being forced to navigate their country’s AIDS crisis. With more than 4.5 million HIV infections across India at the time, often, the women and girls’ only defense against HIV was convincing men to wear condoms. But frequently, the documentary revealed

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Caught in India’s AIDS Crisis | India: The Sex Workers (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

21 minSociety
Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN83 min
Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE goes inside the showdown between U.S. President Donald Trump and the courts over presidential power. President Donald Trump’s allies, opponents and experts talk about how he is testing the extent of his power, the legal pushback and the impact on the rule of law. “Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law” is a FRONTLINE production with Kirk Documentary Group, Ltd. The director is Michael Kirk. The producers are Michael Kirk, Mike Wiser, Vanessa Fica and Philip Bennett. The writers are Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser. The reporters are Vanessa Fica and Brooke Nelson Alexander. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. Explore additional reporting on “Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law” on our website: FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Trump’s Power & the Rule of Law (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

83 minSociety
NFL hall of famer on what players knew about CTE documentary thumbnailEN54 min
NFL hall of famer on what players knew about CTE

Former New York Giants linebacker Harry Carson, who was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and advocated for other players to join a lawsuit against the NFL over brain injuries, discusses why he regrets ever playing football. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and airs nationwide on PBS. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with major support from Ford Foundation. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Trust, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

NFL hall of famer on what players knew about CTE

54 minSociety
Boeing's Troubled 737 Max Plane | “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" Update (full documentary) | FRONTLINE documentary thumbnailEN53 min
Boeing's Troubled 737 Max Plane | “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" Update (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

As new questions arise about Boeing’s troubled 737 Max jet, FRONTLINE and The New York Times update an award-winning investigation into the design, oversight and production of a plane that was involved in two crashes that killed 346 people. In October 2018, a Boeing 737 Max passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff off the coast of Indonesia. Five months later, following an eerily similar flight pattern, another 737 Max 8 went down in Ethiopia. Everyone on board the flights died. "Boeing's Fatal Flaw" tells the inside story of what led up to the crashes — revealing how intense market pressure and failed oversight contributed to tragic deaths and a catastrophic crisis for one of the world’s most iconic industrial names. This updated documentary also examines what’s happened since the original film first aired in 2021, including the January 2024 Alaska Airlines incident where a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max jet’s body midair, and how Boeing has responded. Explore additional reporting related to "Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" on our website: FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Boeing's Troubled 737 Max Plane | “Boeing’s Fatal Flaw" Update (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

53 minSociety
Inside a Changing Nation | Vietnam: Looking for Home (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World documentary thumbnailEN18 min
Inside a Changing Nation | Vietnam: Looking for Home (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

Decades after the Vietnam War shattered his childhood, journalist Nguyen Qui Duc traveled to his homeland and documented the changes he witnessed in the country. (Aired 2003) Decades ago, the Vietnam War shattered Nguyen Qui Duc’s childhood. Over the years, Nguyen, who came to the U.S. as a refugee, returned to his homeland as a journalist, reporting on the country’s culture and establishing connections with writers and artists living there. In 2003, he documented a journey through Vietnam for FRONTLINE/World, looking, he said, “for home, for a bit of myself, for a country that always exists in my memory.” As Nguyen traveled to different parts of the country in “Vietnam: Looking for Home,” he shared his reflections about the nation: “It’s easy to remember Vietnam has a habit of adopting and resisting changes. The culture, the people, will survive.” Several years after “Vietnam: Looking for Home” aired, Nguyen returned to Vietnam, this time for good. He filed occasional dispatches with FRONTLINE and FRONTLINE/World, and opened an influential arts and culture salon that pushed the boundaries of Vietnam’s communist government. Nguyen

FRONTLINE PBS | Official

Inside a Changing Nation | Vietnam: Looking for Home (full documentary) | FRONTLINE/World

18 minSociety