Mary Mazzio’s The Apple Pushers has nothing to do with MacBook Pros and the newest iPads. Instead, it’s an upcoming documentary about five immigrant street vendors who attempt to peddle their fruits in neighborhoods that are challenged by obesity. The uplifting and good-intentioned doc is getting national publicity because of narrator Edward Norton’s involvement and a new trailer that aptly hit Apple's trailer page does a fine job of selling the message, as well. Check it out below or in HD over there
This isn’t just a lecture. The film appears to explore each vendor’s passage into the United States (through difficult channels), then settles into its heath-conscious lesson plan. "The people in the areas who needs fruits and vegetables don’t have access to them," one expert states in the clip.
But what if healthy, nutritious options were brought to them?The experiment sends 1,500 street carts – Green Carts, as they came to be known – loaded with fruits and vegetables into New York’s inner city neighborhoods. Will they make a difference?
Mazzio is a former Olympic athlete turned filmmaker. I’ve heard good things about her documentary Lemonade Stories, but have yet to see it. Norton, meanwhile, regularly lends a helping hand to causes that attract his eye. He’s just not front and center looking for headlines trumpeting his charity work because… well, because he believes in the cause and not his own celebrity. Obesity is a growing problem in America, no pun intended. If handled properly, The Apple Pushers could be this year’s Waiting for Superman, which shined a light on our nation’s struggling public school systems and (hopefully) raised enough awareness to inspire some people to make a difference. Look for The Apple Pushers when it reaches theaters later this year.
