Today I am excited for my first-ever Double Feature. Super Tuesdays at Bowtie Cinemas have become my favorite day of the week (unless I am feeling indecisive about what movie to see, in which case it sometimes becomes my least favorite – #indecisionprobs). Although in my fantasy of doing a double feature, there is the excitement of sneaking into the second one, I am going with my sister and D, who are morally strong people and horrified at the idea, so we shall be paying.
So it goes.
Anyway, we are starting with the Avengers to be followed by Mad Max, which just came out last Friday. I am pretty excited, I loved Mad Max as a child, and have heard that there are some very strong female characters, so I am looking forward to it.
Image from Ted
Last week D and I saw The Salt of the Earth, which features the photographer Sebastiao Salgado. Salgado has created at multiple collections, each with a different focus on the world. The first image they show is of a gold mine in Brazil with thousands of workers climbing in and out of the pit on rickety ladders, I don’t know if I have truly appreciated how much depth a monochrome photo could have before I saw that photo. The documentary touches on the different works that he has completed, his family life, but what moved me the most is the work that he and his family have done without a camera.
Salgado grew up on a cattle ranch in Brazil, when he was a child this land was green and vibrant, full of life. By the time that he inherited it from his father, the land has basically died as a result of deforestation and other practices that slowly drained the land of its resources. Well, Salgado and his wife (and a team of others) worked to reforest the land, with a nursery on site that raised native plants. That land has been transformed into the Instituto Terra At the end of the film Salgado expressed hope that the land will continue to be restored and that the water that once flowed freely from the land will again in an estimated 15-20 years.
The whole film was powerful, from his exquisite photography that has shed light on the various issues and events occurring around the world, to his active pursuit to improve the world we all live in. It is a beautiful thing to see a South American forest being reestablished, as opposed to the usual image of destruction and cut down trees (see: Ferngully).
The only negative comment I have to say about the whole film is that his sons narration could have been cut out. The work that he presented to us in the film spoke for itself about the work that Salgado had done, his sons commentary often led me to feel like he was trying too hard to pay homage to his parents.
rva ramble 