In the modern society, social status and materials are two important thing that defines your identity. Even some says, your future. But after watching "Waste Land" I need to rethink the way I see what I want in my life. Especially when it comes to the pressure from my family to be successful and rich.
From Brooklyn to Jardim Gramacho
Waste Land offers an interesting angle to see poverty and the future. When some people can be pessimistic about being poor, but for the rest there is always a future even though you are poor. Waste Land brought together a Brazilian born famous photographer, Vik Muniz, to Rio De Janeiro to work together with the garbage pickers in the the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramach. The first idea was simple, he just wanted to "paint" the pickers with garbage as background. However their interaction and personal stories from the pickers were inspiring.
They managed to survive and lived with dignity despite the poverty and social problems that imposed. The pickers came from different backgrounds - some came because their parents worked there, some had to come because they had nowhere to go. The land filling site was their way to get away from prostitution or drug trafficking industry which are common in Rio de Janeiro. Some female pickers chose to picking up garbage than selling their body.
The central person in this documentary is Tião. An impoverished garbage picker who started a garbage picker association in Jardim Gramach. He and his friend had a dream to protect other garbage pickers and hoped to provide them with other life skills, such as computing or reading. It was inspiring to see these two ordinary garbage pickers had to deal with people who brought them down or even stole their collective money. But they did not stop, they kept working and even trying to train the younger generation of Jardim Gramach to read so that they can have a better future.
Tião's meeting with Vik Muniz opened Muniz's eyes to an inspiring side of the slum. It was not just about a pile of garbage but a collective of people with hope that choose to live in dignity. The life in slum area is bad enough that you can easily be involved in drug trafficking and then die. In one scene Tião explained that many of his friends died because of drugs or involved in criminal acts.
After working in a while with the garbage pickers to create their 'art works', Muniz and his team had a debate about bringing Tião to London. The debate was triggered from a picker that said she hoped not to go back to the land filling site again. She had a good time in the Muniz's art studio and she hoped she could get a better job at the studio.
A project insider then took that statement as a consequence of the project - have they changed the pickers natural habitat? What if they refused to return to the land filling site after experiencing a better lifestyle? But Muniz, who also grew up in a slum area in Brazil, defended the pickers. He thought they deserve to see a different side of the world they see everyday. They deserve to have a better life than Jardim Gramach.
Inspiring!
I cried when the film ended. It is inspiring and have collected my favourite lines in the film. Mine are from the old garbage picker in that community, Valter.
"The fight is long, but victory is certain,"
"It is not bad to be poor. It is bad to rich at the height of fame with your morals a dirty shame,"
Valter passed away not long after he met Muniz. Muniz also made an art work from his photo.
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| Valter: a senior garbage picker in Jardim Gramacho who died in the beginning of the documentary project |
Here is a link to the documentary. Someone uploaded it on Youtube. Thanks!
More information about Waste Land can be found here www.wastelandmovie.com/
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