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Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Anna Pankin In this uplifting documentary film a contemporary American artist Vik Muniz goes on a life-changing journey back to his homeland, Brazil. Together with his film crew he travels to Rio de Janeiro to realize another massive art project of his. However, to our surprise, instead of showing us the city that we all know, with its beautiful sandy shores, outstanding scenery and the breathtaking view on the statue of Jesus, he takes us to Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill located just on the outskirts of Rio. Vik's primary goal during this trip is to try to give back to the society he grew up in, to the people who come from the same background he once did. Those people are "catadores" or "the pickers". They spend every day working on this huge dump picking through the mountains of garbage in order to sort out the recyclable materials, without any masks or special equipment available. Those people come from the lowest poor class, choosing this job as a preferred option to begging or prostitution.Vik comes to Jardim Gramacho and starts taking pictures of the pickers, men and women. Under his supervision and guidance those pictures are remade by the pickers themselves from the collected waste materials found on the landfill. Together they create massive video installations which get later on sold all over the world at the best auction houses. All the money from the art pieces goes to the pickers to help them realize their dreams.During the course of the film you notice how taking part in creation of pieces of art, which at first might have seemed a waste of time to them, transforms the pickers completely. Gradually, they start believing not only in the power of art, but most importantly in themselves. You get constantly amazed by the inner-beauty, cheerfulness and dignity of those people who have been put in such difficult life circumstances, which could easily break anyone.The movie thus is a triumph of the human spirit and the unity of people, bringing up and beautifully mixing together such serious topics as poverty, environmental problems, education and art. You start to believe that the problem of poverty is actually solvable, mostly with the means of raising awareness, funds and promoting education among those in need. As after all, after being exposed to art the pickers never went back to the landfill, they believed they deserved more and went on to realize their dreams.

sammmmmm100 The documentary Wasteland is about the story of how Vik Muniz discovered the art of recycling. He goes to Brazil where he finds people who are known as pickers. Pickers go to a land fill to go through trash and find valuable things that can be recycled. The landfill is the biggest dump place for trash in the entire country. 100% of Brazil's trash ends up in this land fill but only 70 % of the trash is from Rio, where the landfill is located. Sometimes people will even find dead bodies in the landfill. In the movie there were a variety of pickers who each have their own stories about their life and why they choose to be a picker. Pickers deserve more honor than they receive. They would rather go through the landfill than sell drugs or get involved with prostitution. There is one young woman who is a picker and has 2 kids. She decides for her life that she doesn't want to be a prostitute. There was a young man who was the most deceiving about the whole idea of being a picker while no one else believed in him he believed in himself. He was very precise and he achieved what he believed in which was a very influential.The reason why people should watch this is because it's very inspirational and the artwork of what Vik Muniz and the team of pickers did was artistic and innovative. It made it look like it was more than just trash. People who are interested in the art industry should watch this too. Wasteland is the perfect example of a win-win situation.

evening1 I learned so much about myself by watching this film about garbage! My favorite movies are those that refocus the way I see life. And I didn't expect to find that here.Following are some quotes I found personally meaningful. I hope to store them away like treasures picked from Jardim Gramacho. Vik: "The moment one thing turns into another is a beautiful moment. The moment is really magical." When a realization becomes an insight.Taio: "I never imagined I'd become a work of art." (Nor I.) Mom who lost her 3-year-old son: "I don't forget a detail. A single detail!" I identify with this."They get to another reality and that changes their way of thinking." My work as a therapist."This is what this job brought for me -- the will to change." A vision for my patients."You can dislike something because you've never tried it." When others don't choose or accept you."The moment you want something, you have meaning." The pain of searching...transformed! Vik: "When I was poor I only wanted material things." My lack of materialism comes from somewhere good! Vik: "I knew I could do the work. I did not expect to be as involved with the people as I was." Networking! "He helped everyone make good decisions." My goal as a therapist.Inspiring artist, awe-inspiring film.

rgcustomer Humans today are defined by the trash we produce. No other population that has ever lived here has produced the sheer volume of trash that we have done, in our disposable societies. What are we throwing away? What happens to it? I think we all sort of know. We just don't like to admit it.This is a documentary about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, successful in the USA, returning to Brazil, north of the city of Rio de Janeiro. In particular, he travels to the world's largest landfill of the day, Jardim Gramacho, where numerous people spent years of their lives digging through the trash for valuable recyclable materials, and a meal. Yes, it's like that. (Fortunately this film isn't about electronic waste...) But these are not people beaten-down by their position. They pride themselves on the value of their work. As one man says, they recycle everything we miss, because "99 is not 100". We are in a trash crisis and landfills must grow as slowly as possible. Some of the women say they regard the work as honest, in comparison with prostitution. I was surprised they used the word "honest" as opposed to "safe" or "clean".We're not fooled that these people are pleased about things. But they have self-respect and a sense of humour.Vik's art apparently involves photographs of objects usually not considered artistic, but arranged in artistic ways. He continues this form at Jardim Gramacho, directing the creation of portraits of the surprisingly educated workers he meets living there. (Books arrive, like everything else, in the trash, affording the pickers opportunities to self-educate.) The very large portraits are created on a floor using the materials Vik's subjects work with, mostly various forms of recyclable plastic. These are then photographed and shrunk down to something around 2' x 3'.The film could get a bit wobbly when Vik's team realizes that the expectations of his subjects may be higher than he can deliver. They want their lives improved. But it works out. Vik takes his subjects to see their plastic-portrait-photos exhibited and sold for eye-popping amounts of money. It's refreshing to see that even as Vik understands how to manipulate and respect the art world, he also understands how ludicrous it is. I'm not sure what percentage went to the subjects, but they were able to use the money to better their lives in various ways, and to better the whole community of trash pickers (who prefer "recyclable material pickers" because they don't keep the trash). Copies of the photos are then returned to the original subjects, for display in their own homes.You think I just spoiled it right? (But I did warn you). Still, it really has to be seen to be believed and understood. These are wonderful people, in unpleasant circumstances that are more common, and easier to fall into, than we'd like to admit.