I think I need to buy this one. Maybe the best documentary I have ever seen is Man on Wire, which won the Oscar a few years ago. But this one is nearer to my heart.
Vik Muniz is a hugely successful Brazilian artist living and working in the US. He is still young, and he's made plenty of money, so he wants to make a difference. In the project documented, he decides to go to the world's largest dump, Jardim Gramacho (outside Rio), and work with the catadores to create art with them. The catadores pick through the garbage and pull out tons of recyclable material each day, which they sell to recyclers. This is their living, and it places them firmly on the very bottom run of Brazilian society. It's a filthy job. You have to see it to understand how filthy.
Vik picks a half dozen catadores and creates huge mixed media portraits of them, using photographs and garbage. The images are stunning, and unusual, and sold around the world.
This movie is about hope, and how hope and knowledge of a different life can change someone's current situation. It's also about art, and the difference between garbage and recycling, and the difference between self respect and the bottom rung of the ladder.
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