Waste Land

This film is a testament to creativity and the human spirit. The creativity comes from Vik Muniz, the brilliant Brazilian artist. The spirit stems from his subjects—“recyclers,” as they call themselves—who work at the Jardim Gramacho landfill, one of the largest dumps in the world, which is just outside Rio de Janeiro. Vik photographs several of the workers and turns those images—thoughtful and lovely—into stunning artworks that incorporate garbage from Gramacho. Director Lucy Walker captures the process of the artist closely, but the most compelling part of this story is that of the recyclers. Their jobs may be dirty, but their dignity is intact.
—DH