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vik muniz is an interesting photographer. truthfully his work has much more to do with drawing than photography...but the photo exists as the finalized work which is otherwise transient materials. he's probably most famous for a series of chocolate syrup works, although his sugar drawings are equally as known. suffice it to say, that his work has gained a large audience as well as large prices. better yet, it deserves it...its good work, done well, interesting, and at minimum appears genuine.
this documentary has ups and downs but remains well worth seeing.
its completely different from what you'd expect, and perhaps want, from a film about a photographer. there is some interesting bio/history given (details about his past that i wasn't aware of). the majority of the documentary, however, is about the people he is working on in this "project"; the "catadores" (pickers) of the Jardim Gramacho garbage dump (the worlds largest in Rio de Janeiro). this is where the film is ultimately important, yet the artist's "intent" here become questionable. its an honest intent, he intends to help these people by making portraits of them, selling the photos primarily at an auction, and then giving those proceeds back to the pickers. fair enough.
the questions arise in his approach to the people. he meets them, finds there are thousands of them, picks a few good "characters", and proceeds to hire them to help in the makeshift studio warehouse to create large scale portraits out of the trash. in doing so he takes them out of the dump, gives them wages in a safer and cleaner environment, and makes them something they were not...assistants to an artist.
to their credit the artist, with his assistant and his wife, discuss this moral dilemma and theorize what will happen after this "project" is completed and the pickers return to their normal lives. although their limited psychological evaluations and social considerations are sadly underdeveloped. the film makers fall short here addressing the issues involved. everyone involved here clearly should have gotten some outside opinion and been much more careful about how they preceded.
that being said, one is left to wonder how much of this is promotional material and what facts were left hidden away from the viewing public. the film crew here has an agenda and its married with the artist and his "project". The film itself is part of the "project". they begin the filming at the point where vik's assistant has scoped out the sight they are going to (Jardim Gramacho). there is no one to give this any air of honestly or truth. there is absolutely no other opinion or research on this. it left me suspect of the happenings and the after effects. this is not to say that there is anything wrong or bad done here, nor to say that there is in fact evidence being withheld. what i'm saying is that the filmmakers have failed to close this hole and leaves open a massive question about the possibility of this "project" causing some harm either to the pickers (highly unlikely) or to the selected few (much more questionable).
there are two short bonus segments: one on a "character" whose story was left out "at the last minute"...presumably for time constraints. their story (a couple) is not as interesting ultimately. the second is a short 18 minute post story, which does suggest that things have gone better for this group a selected people, as well it suggests that the money may have helped the whole group some (although the dump will ultimately close in 2012 and they will have to adjust to a new job elsewhere or else-how). again because this is clearly filmed as part of this documentary, it has essentially the same need to be positive rather than truthful.
i give them the benefit of my doubt, and realize that just because they didn't resolve those issues well does not mean they did anything morally wrong. its a problem for the film, not for the project, not for the artist, not for the filmmakers. simply a limitation of the scope of the documentary work shown here.
the story is amazing, heartfelt, enlightening, and as i've said well worth watching. i will watch this again i'm positive. vik is an amazing artist. this is a great view of his working process. its a great body of work. its a good film....good camerawork and good sequencing. and the music was great too....surprised to see at the end the credit going to moby!
despite a flaw, one of the better documentaries out there. and given that this was done in 2009 we may have to wait for the final story to be told. i hope vik remains important and that sometime this will be revisited to see what became of these "characters"
8/10
