Waste Land

Vik Muniz returns from New York to Brazil in order to start giving back. In this journey, he visits a recycling center in a poor part of town and begins to meet the workers. Taking the bubbly workers, Muniz creates pieces of art of these workers with the recyclables through the help of these workers in order to inform and to donate.

Throughout this documentary, the audience meets a diverse group of individuals through Vik and begins to attach to each individual in some manner. This is intriguing because in today's society, most people would judge a job of this type to be unimportant and meant for those who lack in passion. Also, one would expect the workers of this type of occupation would be quite unhappy, when in fact they're happier than most people who do hold a lot of money in their lives.

"This informal workforce — or catadores, as they are known — are the reason Brazil, with only a few municipal recycling programs, manages to reclaim a huge percentage of its trash, said Sonia Dias, the waste-picker specialist for Wiego, a global policy research group. This summer Brazil passed a law to eradicate open dumps and integrate the catadores into the recycling industry. Yet the catadores are still an underclass. The film tells the story of Mr. Muniz’s efforts to help those at Jardim Gramacho take charge of their lives, while giving them a new perspective on the world through art." (New York Times)

Personal Review: Four Stars! -A heartwarming perspective on those individuals that we take for granted in every day life. A more personal stance on the individuals that we find to harbor jobs that to ourselves are undesirable. An interesting turnaround of the happiness that I would have no expected before viewing this film. 
 
Reviews
Order here