WASTELAND REVIEW

Vik Muniz was born into a working-class family in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1961. He was shot in the leg while trying to break up a fight and received compensation for his injuries. He used this money to fund a trip to New York City, where he has lived and worked since the late 1980s.

The film, “WASTE LAND”, follows Vik Muniz from Brooklyn to his country he was born and raised in, Brazil. Here goes to the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The people who live over there spend their days digging through the huge pile of garbage, extracting stuff they can recycle known as catadores. They normally earn $20 to $25 per day to support their families. Muniz asks many women and men to be a part of his project, photographs them, and then converts their images into huge collages created from the trash they collected for him.

Muniz’s intention is to help the pickers to improve their lives using his photography artwork. Vik and his friend Fábio spend around two years in Jardim Gramacho and become closer to the pickers learning about their lives and how they grew up. When his work is done he then he travels to London and sells one of the portraits in an auction earning him and the model he used $50,000. With the money, the pickers buy a truck, equipment and build a learning center and a library. The pickers that worked with him learn how to improve their lives and leave Jardim Gramacho.

In this movie he finds beauty in unexpected places capturing the real meaning of the environment so you can practically smell the place and want to avoid it. When Muniz picks his characters, he follows them on and off their job, providing us with details that give us insight and make us care deeply about each of them. This movie was very emotional for me and there were times I had to pause it so I wouldn’t cry. Some stories that stood out to me the most were Tiaõ, Suelem and Isis.

This movie shows that people in difficult circumstances can accomplish great things if given the chance to do so. I’m glad everyone was able to do something better with their lives. When I checked out the website I browsed that some people have actually went back because they just love it there and some just rather avoid it now as it’s something in the past to them.