Thursday, October 3, 2013

Waste Land

The movie Waste Land is about an artist, Vik Muniz, who goes to Rio de Janeiro’s Jardim Gramacho landfill and makes a difference. In Jardim Gramacho, there are people called pickers who hand pick various recyclable materials from the garbage. These people don’t earn a lot of money for their work. Vik’s goal is to help these people. He does this by making portraits of them using the recyclable material and then auctioning off these pictures and giving the money back to the pickers.

What really impressed me about this movie was the way Vik went about his project. He really got to know the people on a personal level. He also got them to help in the making of the art. They helped create their portraits. I love that he gets them involved in the art. I think it helped them see that there was more they could be doing. 

The way Vik went about getting involved with that community and helping them was a really great example for me. It showed me that to be able to make a change or help out, you need to get to know the people you want to help. You need to be humble about what you are doing. Vik was very humble. He was able to understand the pickers because he grew up very poor in Brazil as well. He was really able to connect with them, which is so important when trying to interact with a community or helping in a community. 

I really enjoyed this movie. It gave me a different view of helping. It also made me think about my garbage and what it says about me. At one point in the movie, one of the pickers had found a book that looked practically new and was near tears that someone would have thrown it in the garbage. It makes me re-think the things I throw out.

Here is a link to the movie :
 http://www.hulu.com/watch/397079

2 comments:

  1. I loved that you talked about how Muniz example changed your perspective. It really amazing that he is able to use what he loved in order to help others. Often times we feel that we must give up something we love to help others. He showed that by using the thing he loved to help others that it just multiplied the results. This was truly inspiring.

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  2. I loved how you spoke about how Vik got to know the pickers personally. I think that was critical in his project. I thought it was really neat how any famous artist could have come in and just thought of himself as better than these pickers, but Vik didn't. He didn't treat them like they were his project either, but he treated them like his friends because they were his friends. He would joke with them, laugh with them, cry with them, and help them out like any good friend.

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