Marion Stoddart is an ordinary person. She says that about herself, that she’s not anyone special. She’s not particularly creative or intelligent. Maybe that’s true, but she dialed in an ingredient that lifted her above the ordinary: commitment. “Why am I on this Earth?” she asked herself. Committed to sticking with it over the long haul, she did “The Work of 1000,” the subtitle of the film “Marion Stoddart.”
This is an ordinary film (right-sized, 30 minutes). Essentially, it’s just Marion and her family and people in her life laying out the account of what she set out to accomplish. Because of this mild mannered woman, a water treatment plant helps keep the Nashua River clean. That river no longer turns the color of whatever color paper the factory is making. Because of her commitment, people did more than sign petitions and raise money and influence politicians.
Marion Stoddart’s vision: return the river to the people. What good is the treatment plant if there’s no access to the river for walking and biking and boating and swimming for thousands of kids and families? Business development can claim the river as an asset. Fish and ducks and geese are back. Snakes and turtles, otter and mink, even moose are sighted.
Why see an ordinary film? Besides a pleasant satisfaction meeting this remarkably ordinary Marion Stoddart and seeing how she did something no ordinary person could do, maybe you’ll feel the work of 1000 in you.