Waste Land

     So this post has nothing to do with my topic of small Mormon communities, but I still think it's pretty interesting so I'm going to post it anyway. So the other day I had an assignment given to us by my English professor. She wanted us to watch a movie called "Waste Land." This movie is basically a documentary about this guy named Vik Muniz who wants to go to a giant landfill in Brazil and make art from garbage found throughout the area. It really doesn't sound too interesting on the outside, but once you get into it you start to realize that it is much more than "garbage art."
    One interesting aspect of this landfill in Rio de Janeiro is the job of the "pickers." Their job is essentially to pick out recyclable material and load it onto trucks. As the documentary gets going you realize a lot of the people working there are really hard workers. They are doing their daily grind, the day to day things that help their families get by. Eventually Muniz decides on what he wants to do for his works, and the results turn out pretty impressive. What's even cooler than the end result is that he has people from their old jobs in the landfill making the art. They eventually make a good amount of money for the organization of the pickers, that was a significant help to them.
     Probably the best part of watching this movie was seeing people who were very different come together and make something amazing. It was really interesting to see the way Muniz could talk to the pickers and the way they talked to him. You can tell that there was a mutual respect between the artist and the pickers, which is something really amazing to witness. If you are looking for a good documentary, or just something that will help you have a broader view of the world, I strongly suggest this movie.