Waste Land
Composite Score: 83.2
Featuring: Vik Muniz and others
Directors: Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, and João Jardim
Genres: Documentary, Art
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $291,307 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Waste Land is the Oscar-nominated documentary about Brazilian artist Vik Muniz and his work with the residents of the favelas around Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill outside of Rio de Janeiro. After giving viewers a brief overview of Muniz’s work to this point, the documentary follows the artist as he travels back to his home country and to the landfill where he meets the new subjects for his next art project, which he hopes to use to bring aid to those people in need. It shows a powerful story of the impact that art can have, the human element of poverty, and the transformational nature of recognizing the beauty of individuality in all places.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
There is a discussion that takes place in the back half of the film between Muniz, his wife, and one of his creative partners about what the goal of the art project is – is it to save the people from their lives at the landfill, is it to inspire them to help others living in poverty around them, is it just to raise awareness around the world? At the end of the day, the impact of the art project shines through in the changes it brings to the lives of its subjects – the pickers of recyclable materials – but the film doesn’t necessarily provide a clear answer as to whether Muniz and his team accomplished what they set out to do. On one hand, I don’t know if that answer is necessary to appreciating what the film documents, but at the same time, in the world we currently live in, I always want to question a rich guy helping poor people without giving them any of his own wealth. There’s a level of almost pity that happens here (I think unintentionally) that leaves a weird taste in my mouth despite the overall positive impact that Muniz left on the pickers.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
For me, the way that the film works to raise awareness of poverty issues around the world through highlighting specific humans and their lives rather than big issues and blanket statements is quite refreshing. It doesn’t seek to make a monolith out of poverty or impoverished individuals. Instead, the film and Muniz work hard to introduce the audience to specific faces of people living in poverty and their lives and their desires and quite simply their humanity. By humanizing poverty, Muniz’s art pieces and the documentary are far more impactful than a list of statistics or names or even overhead pictures (as noted in the documentary) could ever accomplish. The film appreciates the beauty in the midst of the mess while seeking to fix the mess at the same time, walking a fine but necessary line in activism.
By providing personal connections and anecdotes and faces to put with its grand ideas, Waste Land manages to endear its audience to its characters and elicit buy-in in a way that few other documentaries on the issues of poverty have been able to do, making its place among the greats a strong certainty. Though Muniz’s motivations are never fully fleshed out, the overall impact of his work on the people of Jardim Gramacho is undeniably positive and serves as an encouragement to any who watch this documentary to become involved in their own communities and seek out the humanity at the heart of their at-risk communities. This film is currently available to stream via Kanopy or Curiosity or to rent via Amazon or Vudu if you’re looking for a place to watch it.
