DocEdge: Mr Toilet review

“Turn­ing poop cul­ture into pop cul­ture is the fast­est way to solve the san­it­a­tion crisis.”

Hav­ing grown up in self-described slums of Singa­pore before san­it­a­tion arrived, Jack Sim has per­son­al exper­i­ence of its value. After being unsat­is­fied with his early suc­cess in busi­ness, he had a rethink, and made it his mis­sion to bring toi­lets to the world, which he does using a com­bin­a­tion of end­less poop jokes, glow­ing good humour, and bur­eau­crat­ic-speak only if strictly required. ‘It’s not right that two and a half bil­lion people do not have access to prop­er san­it­a­tion when we can send space­craft to land on Mars,’ he says.

Among oth­er achieve­ments he foun­ded the World Toi­let Organ­isa­tion, and per­suaded the UN to unan­im­ously vote for the estab­lish­ment of World Toi­let Day. By his own account, his pro­ject is to per­suade people they want toi­lets as a first step. The affec­tion of his co-work­ers and fam­ily is obvi­ous as they banter about him. ‘Happy are those who enjoy their shit jobs,’ he emails to his work­ers, who amongst oth­er pro­jects, organ­ise ‘urgent runs’ as fund-raisers. ‘Get­ting people to give a shit,’ heads up a Power­Point.

It’s an inspir­a­tion to watch someone who has cre­ated a role doing some­thing so use­ful, without over­shad­ow­ing those around him, and while clearly enjoy­ing him­self. The film-mak­ing is unob­trus­ive and lively, with some fun anim­ated sec­tions.

Highly recom­men­ded.