Waste Land (2010)
95%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Waste Land begins with an eco-friendly premise, but quickly transforms into an uplifting portrait of the power of art and the dignity of the human spirit.
Waste Land is a documentary that will make you appreciate your garbage collector more than ever before. The film takes you on a journey to the world’s largest landfill in Brazil, where garbage is currency and the people who work there are the unsung heroes of society. The director, Lucy Walker, captures the beauty in the trash and the dignity in the workers who sort through it. Waste Land is a heartwarming and inspiring film that will leave you feeling grateful for the little things in life, like a clean street and a full garbage can.
Production Company(ies)
Almega Projects O2 Filmes,
Distributor
Arthouse Films
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Jardim Gramacho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2011
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 38m
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Language(s):Portuguese, English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 29, 2010 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 15, 2011
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, art, garbage landfill, Brazil, recycling, eco-friendly, human spirit, uplifting, Vik Muniz, Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, João Jardim, Angus Aynsley, Fernando Meirelles, Jackie De Botton, PG, English, Arthouse Films, box office, budget, reviewed by David Elliott, Philip French, Derek Malcolm, Anthony Quinn, Jason Goodyer, Peter Bradshaw, Brian D Johnson, Oliver Sunley, Jeffrey Overstreet, Simon Foster, directed by Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, João Jardim, produced by Angus Aynsley, executive produced by Fernando Meirelles, Jackie De Botton, MPAA rating, documentary genre, art genre, environmentalism, recycling industry, garbage pickers, catadores, Jardim Gramacho, Rio de Janeiro, modern art, portrait photography, famous paintings, human dignity, critic reviews, audience score, runtime, distributor, cast & crew, cinematographer, Dudu Miranda, favela life, Birmingham Post, San Diego Reader, Guardian, Independent (UK), Little White Lies, Maclean’s Magazine, CineVue, Image, sbs.com.au, uplifting, heartwarming, life-affirming, humanitarian, Brazil, shanty town, creative process, artist, subject, relationship, MCU, horror movies, Netflix series, TV shows, streaming movies, Thor: Love and Thunder, Marvel Movies in Order, Minions: The Rise of Gru, The Terminal List, Inside Job, Encounters at the End of the World, Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country, The Cove, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Worldwide gross: $291,307
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $383,505
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,802
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 41,822
US/Canada gross: $187,716
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $247,128
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,504
US/Canada opening weekend: $9,806
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $12,910
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,649
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,500,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $1,974,747
Production budget ranking: 2,029
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $1,063,401
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$2,654,643
ROI to date (est.): -87%
ROI ranking: 1,940
Lucy Walker – Director
Karen Harley – Director
João Jardim – Director
Fernando Meirelles – Executive Producer
Jackie De Botton – Executive Producer
Director(s)
Lucy Walker, Karen Harley, João Jardim
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Angus Aynsley
Film Festivals
Toronto
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (71) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (71)
With Walker and cinematographer Dudu Miranda, Muniz has a hawk’s eye for the weird beauty of bulldozed hillocks of trash and the catador faces that he chose to star in photographic portraits.
November 14, 2016 | Rating: 3/5
David Elliott
San Diego Reader
TOP CRITIC
Muniz is a gifted, modest and altogether delightful man, and his project is both aesthetically fascinating and philosophically stimulating.
February 28, 2011
Philip French
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
A well-made and often uplifting film that refuses to get angry yet still manages to point out that things aren’t as they should be for a great many.
February 25, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Derek Malcolm
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
The glimpses of favela life will make you thank your lucky stars you weren’t born there.
February 25, 2011 | Rating: 3/5
Anthony Quinn
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Perhaps not life-changing but certainly life-affirming.
February 24, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Jason Goodyer
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
This is undoubtedly a bold raid into an unknown territory – both geographic and conceptual – that the prosperous classes prefer not to think about.
February 24, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
[Director Lucy] Walker’s documentary is an eye-opening trip to a part of the world where garbage serves as liquid currency for people who salvage dignity from degradation with intelligence and grace.
March 27, 2019
Brian D. Johnson
Maclean’s Magazine
What shines through is the strength of the Brazilian landfill workers optimism and uplifting spirit which makes Waste Land more than worth watching.
March 2, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Oliver Sunley
CineVue
This conversion of garbage into humanitarian aid is just the beginning. Practical charity gives way to life-changing intimacy.
June 12, 2012 | Rating: A-
Jeffrey Overstreet
Image
The breadth of gratitude these catadores feel towards Muniz and the life-experience they undertake makes for an intelligent, emotional movie.
November 30, 2011
Simon Foster
sbs.com.au
Waste Land is a real treasure, the sort of heartwarming and life affirming study of people, lacking in both sentimentality and cynicism, that uplifts the audience and elevates the art form
August 19, 2011 | Rating: 90/100
Dan Jardine
Cinemania
Waste Land fuses the design concepts behind two of the most high-profile animations of recent years, Rio and the Oscar-winning Wall-E, into an essay about how hard some people are prepared to work.
April 13, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Graham Young
Birmingham Post…
Plot
An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The documentary Waste Land features modern artist Vik Muniz working with garbage pickers to create art out of recycled materials.
Lucy-Walker.jpg
