Salt of the Earth (new film)

[Lodestar]

LATimes Review:

When he looked over the edge of Brazil's massive Serra Pelada mine, about to take one of the 20th century's most iconic photographs, Sebastião Salgado said, "every hair on my body stood on edge. The pyramids, Babel, the history of mankind unfolded. I had traveled to the dawn of time."

That panoramic shot of 50,000 men working without the aid of machinery in an enormous gold mining pit, each and every one of them "slaves to the cause of getting rich," is just one of hundreds of justifiably admired photographs that have made Salgado one of the most recognizable names in contemporary photojournalism.

But whether you're familiar with Salgado's name and work or not, the documentary "The Salt of the Earth," a popular prize-winner at Cannes and on the Oscar shortlist, will be a revelation.

Co-directed by the veteran Wim Wenders and Salgado's son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, "The Salt of the Earth" deals with two kinds of journeys the photographer made. The outward one may have literally taken him to the furthest corners of the Earth and resulted in the stunning images the film features, but it is the inward journey that paralleled it that completely holds our attention.

That's because Salgado, speaking in French and interviewed by an off-camera Wenders, turns out to be an articulate, thoughtful man whose tale of personal transformation changes the way we look at those photographs.

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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-salt-of-earth-review-20141212-column.html

[ND-Dem]

1. could you summarize what the transformation was? i never read the la times,

but it told me I'd read five articles and must register.

I don't want to.

[lovemydog]

2. Planting trees.

My soul was sick," he remembers with remarkable vividness. "I no longer believed in anything, in any salvation for the human species." He returned to the family property in Brazil, where something remarkable took place.

Disturbed by the deforestation he saw, Salgado and his wife formed the Instituto Terra and spearheaded an effort to replant an astonishing number of trees, well over 2 million and counting at this point, in an enduring attempt to restore the natural state of the area's subtropical rainforest.

More than that, this project rekindled Salgado's interest in photography, resulting in his latest major project, "Genesis," for which he spent close to a decade taking pictures of the natural world. Those images, like all of Salgado's work, are exceptional, but what makes "The Salt of the Earth" so special are the words that go along with them.

[ND-Dem]

3. thanks very much. i needed that this a.m.

[Quantess]

4. Looks like a good film!