Waste Land (2010)

  This is the last documentary from my 2011 Oscar nominations.  It lost to Inside Job, which I can't complain about, even though this is really good.  Depressing, but still good.

Brazilian artist Vik Muniz specializes in social commentary via mixed media photography.  For his next project, he wants to visit the Jardim Gramacho landfill outside of Rio and photograph some of the workers who spend hours a day separating the trash and pulling out recyclable material.  They live in some of the poorest favelas in the country and are constantly under threat by turf wars between rival drug dealers.  Vik selects a handful of workers, takes their picture, and then invites them to his workshop to help fill in huge transparencies of the photograph with recycled material.  The resulting photographs are spectacular, like the one on the poster.

Over the course of this process, the workers open up about their lives and are opened in turn to new possibilities outside Jardim Gramacho.  Muniz, his crew, and the film-makers are careful to never exploit the workers by promising more than they can deliver, and all proceeds from the artwork are given back to the workers themselves.

I came away from this movie uplifted by their hope for the future, humbled by their perspective, and fervently determined to recycle more.  Like, seriously, guys.  Recycle.