There is a movie that I saw six months ago that I am still thinking about. It's called "Manufactured Landscapes," which I posted about on March 21st. (I hope you'll read my original post if you haven't yet.)
While this movie is mainly showing beautiful and interesting photographs and video by Edward Burtynsky, there is much more to it than that.
Looking past Burtynsky's photographs of quarries and mines located in different places in the world, and the factories in China, there were the social aspects behind many of the photographs.
There is a lot of poverty in China, and unlike what we saw during the 2008 Olympics, it is obvious in some segments of this movie. There was a segment that showed adults and children as they picked apart electronic equipment (from America) and separated the e-waste. This process is very dangerous because of the amount of lead they are exposed to, but people do it all day long, so they can earn money to survive. And, there is also a segment about men participating in the deconstruction of a ship in Bangladesh, to salvage scrap metal so they could earn money. It's also a dangerous process because of the large scale they are working. Both segments were very powerful.
I see many many movies each year, and I quickly forget about most of them. "Manufactured Landscapes" is going to be with me for a very long time.
Today is Blog Action Day, with the theme of Poverty.
