Scrappers 2010

Recycling the American Dream

Directed by Brian Ashby

Set within Chicago’s labyrinth of alleyways, Scrappers is a cinéma vérité portrait of Otis and Oscar—two scrap metal scavengers searching for a living with brains, brawn, and battered pickup trucks. The film elucidates how globalization, the 2008 financial crisis, crackdowns on undocumented immigrants, and widespread scrap metal theft affect these men and their families.