Manufactured Landscapes
Canada
2006
80 Min
Color
1.85:1
English, Mandarin
Synopsis
Jennifer Baichwal’s cameras follow Edward Burtynsky (1955- ) as he visits what he calls manufactured landscapes: slag heaps, e-waste dumps, huge factories in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of China, and a place in Bangladesh where ships are taken apart for recycling. In China, workers gather outside the factory, exhorted by their team leader to produce more and make fewer errors. A woman assembles a circuit breaker, and women and children are seen picking through debris or playing in it. Burtynsky concludes with a visit to Shanghai, the world’s fastest growing city, where wealth and poverty, high-rises and old neighborhoods are side by side. —IMDb
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beat_seth
31Jan12
A stunning and interesting docu film. It's good that the filmmakers didn't judge the process of ruining the planet (they just documented it), but it's quite obvious that this process is one of the most devastating thing the human race has ever done to this planet.
lunes likes this
Matt Richards
12Nov11
Fantastic! A very sobering look at where we are headed and just how much momentum we have going behind us. 4.5 stars
Mugino
28Jul10
Over the years, I've grown leery of the didactic nature of the documentary genre. What sets this piece apart is that both the photographer and the filmmaker have made a conscious effort not to politicize their subjects, while recognizing the inevitable subjectivity of the framed image. While I agree somewhat that the film could have worked without Burtynsky's narrative, it was minimal and at times informative.
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Behind the Looking Glass
By lolo341 on November 26, 2011
In Burtynsky’s denouement, he says, “If I said, ‘this is a terrible thing we’re doing to the planet,’ then people will either agree or disagree. By not saying what you should see, that may allow them… read review
Gorgeous movie with some breathtaking shots...
By Abel Magwitch on December 10, 2009
Gorgeous movie with some breathtaking shots by both the photographer and the movie maker. The opening sequence is almost unbelievable as the camera pans along an endless corridor looking down row after… read review
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