Personal Point of view on the documentary “Wasteland”

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Wasteland
Wasteland is all about making an unproductive land useful. Finding beauty out of what is deemed ugly. It is all about finding light out of the dark land. Darkness in this context is supposed to mean negativity as light stands for salvaging what could have been unproductive and making good use of it. It is worth noting that any wasteland recycled into the productive land is a show of gratitude. Making such changes could also involve transforming people to embrace different aspects of life as it were. The documentary “Wasteland” is, therefore, a life transforming film directed by Lucy Walker. Lucy features the journey of Muniz Vik, who is an artist, from Brooklyn to Brazil. It is worth noting that wherever he goes is one enormous dumpsite of garbage in his native home. He is out to make good out of the world’s known biggest dumpsite. As he reaches there, he takes photographs of the dumpsite and those working on it. He also takes a photo of the site dwellers who seem to be urchins picking and ransacking the dumpsite.
The pickers cooperate as he takes the photo and the willingness to work there. Such actions are a great sign of desperation equated with dignity and diligence. The action and situation in my view are the concern and willingness to create transformation out of the wasteland. It is out clearly the theme of despair and willingness. Here is a group of people who are desperate for garbage ransacking and yet still willing to recycle and make good out of the garbage site.

It is, therefore, important that any wasteland could always be renovated if there is cooperation from those who stay around and those sponsoring the renovation. Muniz then decides to make friendship with the pickers around the dumpsite. One person he befriends is Irma, who is so innovative that she makes food out the garbage ransacked dirty food. It becomes so fascinating that on one hand, the garbage is a threat and on the other hand, it is a blessing. The thematic concern in this part is creativity. It takes a creative person to bring back waste food into consumable food.

Muniz also makes friends with Zumbi, who has benefited much from the books he picked from the dumpsite. Valter is also a member of the entire garbage family. The leader of the site is Santos, who brags of having acquired his leadership skills from the books he scavenged from the dumpsite. The book written by Machiavelli made a turning point in his leadership and power skills. The theme of knowledge acquisition comes out clearly at this point. It is something worthwhile to gain. One other thing is consumption. Valter states clearly states that he is aware of the impact of the waste on the environment. He would like to clear the waste to save the environment from harm. He even formulate a slogan to coming out to state that as much as he is not learned, he chooses not to recycles it but does not regret the presence because after all it has impacted positively on them.
Therefore, the theme of consumption and recycling comes out. To the garbage family, the wastes that end up in the garbage are recycled and make part and parcel of their daily wage and survival means. Many women would rather stick to the garbage picking job and earn a living than practice promiscuity. About five thousand people live in the dumpsite while well over fifteen thousand people either directly or indirectly obtain their earnings from the site. The information about this is appreciated. The dark side of life made bright from the dark side. This site has the highest rates of recycling in the world thanks to the family around it. Objectively, this news is appreciated, and it is good news as it were. Subjectively, accumulation of filth and garbage is hazardous to health. We should not forget at all that we need to reduce the careless dumping of waste, reusing the part that is worth reusing and above all recycle what we can.
When we take a look at the site from a helicopter in a plan view, it looks not pleasing from the words of Vik. However, it looks good from near due to the presence of humanity around. The humanity brings optimism to the site since they recycle the garbage to conserve the environment. The arrangement of the garbage from close view looks like a piece of art. The work of art is part of recycling work of the street family. It is so commendable that they use waste to make art material that they finally sell at lucrative prices and earn a living out of it. The theme of art is therefore experienced and mentioned at this time. It comes out as irony when the rich buy products made of the recycled waste they dump and at a higher fee. Therefore, it is worth noting that garbage is a curse and a blessing at the same time. One thing is that the curse is a choice if you do not choose wisely we perish out of the consequences of our choices. Also, it is a blessing when the waste is creatively recycled and wisely used to earn a living if not to conserve the environment.

Work cited
Kahana, Jonathan. Intelligence Work: The Politics of American Documentary. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2008. Print.

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