LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Robyn Nesbitt (nesfilmreviews) An moving documentary highlighting the transformative power of art, and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz rooted in New York decides to give back to a community where he was born and raised. He travels to Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill in the world on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. With the intention to help the pickers to improve their lives using his art, what starts as an introduction to the devastating poverty and lack of infrastructure in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, begins to transform into a story of unrelenting spirit, strength, and inspiration. Perhaps director Lucy Walker initially intended to make the film about Muniz. If so, her subject led her to a better one; as he returns to Rio to photograph pickers for a series of portraits, she begins to focus on their lives. We see where they live, we meet their families, we hear their stories, we learn of the society and economy they have constructed around Jardim Gramacho, the "Garbage Garden." Zumbi, a member of the association, who began a library from his home from books that had been discarded, Irma, a cook who makes stews and roasts from edible meat to feed the workers, Suelem, an 18-year old girl who has been working in the garbage dump since she was only seven years old, and Valter, an elderly man who entertains with stories and songs and who decides to participate because he believes that "it will raise awareness of all us pickers." Once the initial photographs are made, Muniz projects an enlarged version of each photo onto the floor of his studio and hires the pickers to add refuse from the landfill onto the canvas, photographing the result from overhead. This then becomes the finished art work, ready to be exhibited at auctions and museums around the world-- with the pickers traveling to such cities as London and New York, the first time they have ever left Gramacho. (Heavily debated decision and the possible ramifications.) Life is unpredictable that way. "Waste Land" is a testament that things can go from good to bad in an instant. But they can also improve just as quickly. A social documentary based around a self reliant community of people disregarded and largely ignored, who find unrealized beauty in their everyday work, modern art, and in themselves. I can never again put out my recycling bin without giving thought to how much more this film communicates than just that.

jarp59 It never ceases to amaze me how people can change lives when they decide to. There are so many out there that have the capability and means to make a difference and do so. Vik is an inspiration. He remembers where he grew up and does what he can to help many who hail from the same area in Rio. Lovely, hard-working people that love their families, opportunities and lives. So many of us that struggle with daily grind and complaints need to turn to films such as these to see how fortunate we really are. I know I am, blessed indeed. I truly do care about these folks and was moved by their lives. Everyone has a story and many are not easy to hear, but they put the stories out there. No qualms, no shame. We should all be so open and realize what fortunes we do have.

Clark Richards It's hard to not be moved by this film. Although the film takes about an hour to get going, once the movie gets its footing you will be mesmerized by how transformative creativity can be for the soul. You want a happy ending for everyone involved, you want everyone to leave their metallic shacks to live in houses with plumbing, you want in essence a perfect world...no warts and all.However, only Hollywood scripts give birth to such wild fantasy and this film is real and by its own measure, the happiness we see, while real, may only be fleeting.Waste Land is an excellent film.

maddynicholls I loved this film for its beauty.Waste Land helped build my understanding and appreciation of modern art from almost zero aside from MIT's Walter Lewin lecture on Modern Art - who is adamant that modern art is supposed to be "ugly" and change the way one looks at things. Vic Muniz, the artist in the film takes this further by explaining how to look at art: stand back to get the idea, get closer to look at the materials and detail the artist uses.Vic uses the same technique to get to know the landscape and the subjects of his film first looking at them from aerial photos/plane and then on the ground. Astonishing how this transforms the subjects and landscape from a rubbish tip to beautiful and inspiring people and works of art. His subjects were totally in tune and connected with their environment in the landfill.By the end of the film even Vic's wonderful, tasteful, designer home in NY looked like a slightly more orderly version of his subject's favelas.