Last Monday I watched the film Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker and I must say that I was truly humbled and amazed by it. This documentary followed the inspiring work of artist Vik Muniz during a three-year project in the world’s busiest landfill, Jardim Gramacho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jardim Gramacho literally translates to “Gramacho Gardens”, which is certainly ironic because the landfill resembles anything, but a garden. In spite of this, after watching this movie I could understand how the humble, yet proud “catadores” or “pickers” could see a symbolic garden at Jardim Gramacho.

One of the aspects of the film that I really enjoyed was the personal growth and transformation of the pickers as well as Vik Muniz and his crew. The film demonstrated how great people can be if given a chance, no matter where they come from or what they do. At the beginning of the film Vik mentions that Jardim Gramacho is the place “where everything that’s not good goes; including the people.” Even Vik had a preconceived notion of what these people were going to be like before meeting them. The people at Gramacho proved their resiliency and showed that they could still smile even with all of the nauseating garbage around them; I felt like there was a real feeling of community among the “catadores.”

Additionally, as a father, I felt a real sadness when the pickers would talk about their children because it made me think of my three-year-old son. I could not even imagine the horror, misery, and grief that Isis must have felt (and probably still feels) when her own son died at Gramacho. Nonetheless, even with all of its low points, this film was definitely inspiring and had enough highs to make me smile at the end. It goes without saying that Vik and the film crew had a huge impact on the “catadores” as well as the other way around; I would say they influenced each other during the making of this film. This was definitely an inspiring film that embodies the indomitable human spirit.