Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 140 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Many of us here at Cinapse are all about the intersection of trash and art, and yet Waste Land handles this juxtaposition in a far more literal and eye-opening fashion than what we usually would usually mean by that statement. US-based, Brazilian-born Artist Vik Muniz travels to Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro, and creates actual, literal art out of trash. Yet the story isn’t just about him, but the people that he encounters on his journey. Thanks to Liam for the recommendation!
Did you get a chance to watch along with us this week? Comment below or post on our Facebook or hit us up on Twitter!
Next Week’s Pick:
Next week we’re looking at James Gunn’s horror-comedy Slither, hand-picked by Ed Travis in slimy, writhing anticipation for Gunn’s upcoming Marvel flick Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Would you like to be a featured guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your 140 word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co!
The Team
Ed:
“I never imagined I’d become a work of art”. Internationally known artist Vic Muniz takes on a giant project creating portraits out of recyclable materials from the world’s largest landfill outside Rio De Janeiro. Along the way, he empowers and dignifies the pickers who work there. Exploring myriad social issues through a focus on a small cast of fascinating subjects, I found the project to be redemptive and tear-inducing. Particularly interesting was the subject Tiaõ, the young president of the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho. Working with a friend, he creates a library from the books they’ve pulled out of the garbage. Tiaõ reads Machiavelli and has a dream for organizing and unionizing the association he founded. This fascinating doc has rough edges, but it explores life in Rio with complexity, compassion, and an acute human insight. (@Ed_Travis)
Liam:
Waste Land does a lot of things very well. It tells its story well, portrays the individuals with dignity, and explores the difficulties of working with folks facing immense social injustice. What it does that many may have missed is show the struggle of the artist. Vik Muniz is not just a tourist, exploring poverty like a fish out of water, but rather someone returning to their roots and struck by how far they have come. This transition is so powerful, yet also so minor compared to the depth of struggle and hope the other folks in the film express, that you might miss something special. It is important though, as many of us will relate to Vik’s struggle to find meaning despite his seeming distance from his subjects but also his own past. The film inspires hope but also reflection. (@liamrulz)
Sean:
Waste Land was both a breath of fresh air and a hard pill to swallow. I found myself in a place desiring something positive to associate with humanity lately and here you get that. Both Vik Muniz’s desire to use art as an outlet for positive change and the determination of the landfill pickers are inspiring; examples of us at our best. I loved it. But some of the personal stories were so devastating, especially in relation to lost children and broken families. Overall this is a grand film and I highly recommend it, just know that your emotions may be in for a ride. Mine were. (@Sbennis79)
Austin:
I was very moved by this documentary. At the center: a successful but artist with a heart for social justice. As Vik Muniz says, he didn’t intend to develop such strong bonds with the human subjects of his social art project, but the garbage pickers of Rio de Janeiro touched him just as they do the audience. Despite the filthy environs and low pay, many labour in retrieving reusables and recyclables from the landfill. Vik chose a handful of them to work with him and become immortalized in works of art in which the very stuff of their lives — garbage — is the primary medium. Even knowing what the film and its artist are all about, the ultimate creation of the artworks is a startlingly beautiful revelation. Waste Land a fascinating, deeply saddening, and ultimately hopeful and positive reminder for humankind. (@VforVashaw)
Brendan:
If ever there was an example of a film succeeding in spite of itself, Waste Land is it. The early goings of the film are ponderously slow, with embarrassingly staged conversations to info dump important points onto the audience. Doesn’t matter. There’s an almost crushing humanity running through the core of the film, a sense of empathy and connection that only grows stronger as the film continues and starts to hit harder. Once the actual process of making the art has finished and the film begins examining the ripple effect on the lives of the pickers, that’s when the movie really starts to sting. It openly ponders the limitations of art and hope before coming squarely down on the side of perseverance and triumph. Large stretches left me a wreck, awestruck by the capacity of people to overcome. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Our Guest
Jordan Gass-Poore:
Waste Land proves that life is recyclable: you can take the hand you’re dealt and act on it. This action can be transformative, as is the case for some of the documentary’s key players, who show that life is never a waste and that we have just as much impact on the land as it does on us. Our trash, our recyclable materials, can say a lot about us. The moment one of the workers commented on how trash contained in small bags come from those who are poor I thought about my mini-trashcan I’ve carted with me from dorm to apartment, and the plastic grocery bags I horded to fit inside of it. I think the trashiest moment of “Waste Land” was during the art auction when Vik Muniz mentioned fellow artist Damien Hirst, whose work made me regret visiting the Tate. Mr. Hirst, I want my admissions fee back. (@jgasspoore)
Did you all get a chance to watch along with us? Share your thoughts with us here in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!
Get it at Amazon:
Waste Land [DVD]
