Do you know what Bakelite is? Even if you know what it is you should definitely watch All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic (2018). It's a didactic, informative and entertaining documentary about Leo Baekeland, the man who changed the world and started the Fourth Kingdom, the synthetic materials era. Right in the beginning it sets its tone with some funny street interviews, showing that the purpose it's to be like history and chemistry classes but not boring ones.
In this path, the film gently guides audience through these two subjects. With the help of very instructive scientists, we can easily understand complex things such chemical reactions. They use a lot of metaphors that go along with simulations, videos, photographs, digital animation, so it's easy to understand what Leo Baekeland did and why Bakelite was and is so important to mankind. Besides, Leo himself has a voice in the film. Adam Behr gives life to the inventor through some notebooks notes that help us understand his choices not only in chemistry but in his entire life. Therefore, the documentary has a soul and let's us closer to Leo all the time, a historical journey through his memories. This area, his personal living, is explained also with the help of fantastic contents, many photographs and short films the family has, a historical simulation, performed by Mark Ferreira and interviews with Baekeland relatives and admirers. Something that it's very important to highlight is the connection with now and the future. Like the title says: The Age of Plastic, the film explores the present and the future of plastic, showing how the Fourth Kingdom evolved from Bakelite to the plastics we use today and what are the possibilities for the next synthetic materials. As you can see, All Things Bakelite is a very complete movie, although it has just 59min. Audience can learn everything about Bakelite and its inventor plus many other significant subjects and have a good time. There are even funny video clips throughout the documentary to keep us entertained. In the end of the watch we get the feeling we really know Leo Baekeland, as if we spent an hour with him. This has everything to do with the fact that it's an indie movie with an important family participation. We can feel the care with the memories and the will and success in showing the world the greatness of this eccentric and brilliant man.
