Just a Little Sprinkle of "The Salt of the Earth"

Hi team,

Okay!  Let's see if I can write only a paragraph (okay maybe two paragraphs) about a movie!

My first attempt at the exercise in restraint:

"The Salt of the Earth" (2014)

This documentary profiles the superlative photographer Sebastião Salgado by not only following him as he works on a current project, but also interviewing him as he reflects on a decades-spanning career documenting incredible moments in human history and illuminating corners of human life that are often overlooked.  Salgado's telling of his personal biography is punctuated by his memories of extended periods of work photographing working conditions in a Brazilian mine, life in South America, and genocides in Africa and Europe.  The progression of his work into darker and darker chapters of human history leads to his inevitably increasing disgust and disillusionment with humanity as a whole. 

This is a difficult yet extraordinary and stunningly beautiful film--proof that it lives up to the astonishing photography created by its subject.  Salgado has borne witness to profound and devastating human suffering, creating images that are at once, seemingly impossibly, heart-rending and exquisite.  His photographs refuse to surrender your gaze, insisting that you see what he has seen.  The challenge of this movie is in contending with his angry accusation: How could we let these things happen?  In showing how Salgado nevertheless persists in his career despite what he is witnessed, this film creates a sense of hope without fully relieving us of the imperative to be better custodians of our fellow human beings and our planet.

Salgado was already one of my favorite photographers.  "The Salt of the Earth" has only deepened my love for him and his work.  I gave the film a 5.

{Heart}