One of the most memorable scenes in the new documentary American River is a chance encounter with a young man named Christian, who struggles with a neurological disorder but finds serenity living among the raccoons, in industrial ruins along the Passaic.
“And he’s the only one–he’s the one who totally gets the river: ‘This is the most peaceful place in Paterson.’ Bingo!” author and co-star Mary Bruno told an enthusiastic audience at a screening in Morristown’s Mayo Performing Arts Center last week.
Directed by Scott Morris with backing from Dillard Kirby, the 86-minute film was inspired by Bruno’s 2012 book, An American River: From Paradise to Superfund, and re-creates her four-day kayak trip with environmentalist Carl Alderson.
The documentary asks why this river, which zig-zags for nearly 90 miles from its pristine headwaters in Mendham to toxic Newark Bay, has been abused, loathed and ignored for so long by so many, and whether we as a society have the will to save it.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin. Click/hover on images for captions:
Before starting this project, Producer Kelly Sheehan only knew the Passaic as “where The Sopranos dumped all the bodies.”
Bruno grew up in North Arlington, where park benches turn their backs on the river.
“For all my life,” she says in the film, “I thought of the Passaic River as a monster. It wasn’t. It was a victim.”
Morris has lived near the river in Chatham for decades. He never thought twice about it, he admitted, until hearing Bruno give a book talk.
American River is unusual, Morris contends, because it’s neither “hopeless and dark” nor rose-tinted.
“I really want people to see all sides of it. It’s not just one or the other,” the director said.
It was a daunting undertaking, stretching from 2018 through the pandemic.
Morris previously teamed with Kirby on another David-vs-Goliath film, Saving the Great Swamp, Battle to Defeat the Jetport. This time, he oversaw a 15-person crew and a dozen cameras, including drones and kayak-mounted Go Pro’s.
They recorded 150 hours of video and 32 hours of audio — more footage than Peter Jackson sifted for his epic eight-hour Beatles doc, Get Back.
Video: ‘American River’ trailer:
Although Morris used Bruno’s book as a template, American River still held surprises.
“You don’t always know what you’re doing until you get there,” Morris explained. It took three tries to find the precise source of the river, for one of the most stunning shots of the picture.
There are historians, and accidental tourists, and river denizens such as Millington resident JoAnn Behr, who moved to the water’s edge in the 1980s to raise goats. At Thursday’s reception she fondly recalled tubing adventures and midnight canoe rides.
Rays of hope are limned by activists and low-income residents of Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood.
They fought powerful chemical companies that dumped dioxin, a deadly leftover from Vietnam-era Agent Orange production, and other hazardous wastes into the Passaic.
The government finally outlined plans last year for a $1.8 billion cleanup of the river’s lower 17 miles, described in the film as the nation’s largest Superfund site.
Other encouraging developments, said Bruno, who jetted from Seattle for the screening, are a national park at Paterson’s magnificent Great Falls and Riverfront Park, along a Newark stretch once filthy with flotsam.
And there is the example of the late Robert Perkins Jr., a visionary who preserved thousands of wild acres—including Great Piece Meadows and Troy Meadows–by strategically acquiring a patchwork of parcels to thwart developers.
ONE STORY, MANY RIVERS
As the title suggests, American River could be the saga of the Detroit River, the Charles in Boston, the Anacostia in Washington D.C., and numerous other polluted waterways, according to Alderson, Bruno’s guide and companion on both of her Passaic kayak trips.
On their second pass, Alderson was disturbed by the profusion of downed trees and dead animals. He blames climate change for increasingly severe storms such as Hurricane Ida.
Alderson spends his spare time guiding tours of urban rivers such as the Hackensack and Raritan. His day job is restoring habitats. Can the Passaic be restored to health?
“Yeah, if I live to be 300, I could get it done,” he cracked before the MPAC screening.
During the Q A session someone asked him what’s next. Getting a big laugh, Alderson said he’s working on American River: The Musical.
In another light moment, Dillard Kirby, who bankrolled the movie as executive producer, said his wife told him to lay off the jokes during his introduction.
“Someone might come up and slap me,” deadpanned the retired president of the F.M. Kirby Foundation. He referred to the Slap Heard Round the World at last week’s Oscar Awards.
American River persuaded Kirby to paddle the Passaic last fall.
Morris’ next act is a ways off. He’s hitting the film festival circuit, and hopes to pitch American River to Netflix, Hulu and other streaming platforms. He ducked out of Thursday’s screening for a virtual Q A with a Yale fest.
You can catch the documentary in person and online at this week’s Princeton Environmental Film Festival. In June, American River will be featured in Washington D.C. at an international conference of the Waterkeeper Alliance, for a training workshop as a “tool for advocacy,” Morris said.
‘PEOPLE MATTER’
The documentary resonated with many at the Mayo Performing Arts Center.
Aspiring filmmaker Darren Gong, a 2017 graduate of Morristown High, said American River was his introduction to the Passaic River.
“I want to kayak it now,” he said.
Lee Goldberg of Morris Township grew up around the Passaic—in his youth he watched Philippe Petit traverse the Great Falls on a tightrope. Yet American River was an eye-opener.
“I’m blown away but what I just saw,” Goldberg said.
Mary Bruno and Carl Alderson portage over Great Falls in Paterson – ©2021 Scott Morris Productions. All rights reserved.
Everyone who lives within five miles of the Passaic should see the film, added Mendham Councilwoman Amalia Duarte.
Singer and activist Kathy Moser suggested a hip-hop songwriting contest to raise awareness about the Passaic. Newark native Ned Waldman, 90, shared river memories of people swimming and boating and eating hot dogs at East Side Park during the Depression.
Molly Riley, who works for an environmental nonprofit, said she enjoyed the film, but wished it dove deeper into the polluters and their impact on persons of color.
“It’s hard to get people to care about pollution unless they know the people it’s affecting,” Riley said.
Karol Ruiz of the Wind of the Spirit Immigration Resource Center said American River’s portrayal of the Ironbound battle inspired her to push to clean the Rockaway River, near a Superfund site in Dover.
For Mary Bruno, that is the takeaway.
“People matter. When we pay attention, David wins,” said the writer and paddler behind American River. “Goliath wins when we’re asleep, and we’re not paying attention. So let’s wake up. Let’s stay awake.”