Simply Stunning!
Added 12/5/2009
I have actually followed Edward Burtynsky's photographic work for quite some time now. In fact he has been quite an inspiration for my own photographic work. I have now seen 5 of his exhibitions including the Manufactured Landscapes show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art back in 2005 and the updated Manufacturing Landscapes show at the Boston Museum of Science back in May of this year (2009). His work is outstanding and when I found out he was making a Manufactured Landscapes film....well lets just say I watched it the first chance I got and it certainly doesn't disappoint.
The opening scene for this documentary by itself is enough to outright stun most people. It honestly left me speechless and changed my entire outlook on China and the concept of mass production. You see the human mind has problems dealing with large numbers. for example we understand that the Sun is 93,000,000 miles away from earth yet our minds just cant grasp just how far that really is. We have no experience to compare it too. We understand how far a mile is and we can even picture how far a mile is in our heads as we have traveled a mile many times in our lives and its that experience that allows us to visualize and really understand such distances and numbers. That just isn't the case with larger numbers and our ability to really grasp just how big they really are simply breaks down. Why am I bringing this up? Because the world has reached a level of mass production that is simply beyond our comprehension and the opening scene in this film really shows this in a very simply yet creative way. A single shot that pans across the floor of one of the so called "Mega factories" in China. This one scene shows you that your not in Kansas anymore as what your looking at is a whole different level of manufacturing that many of us simply have never seen before.
Sure we have all heard about China's ability to mass produce but because of our brains inability to cope with such large numbers, we simply haven't been able to fully comprehend just how massive the scale of production really is. This one scene really helps put things in perspective and it will leave most people absolutely stunned. I wont go into anymore detail as it would ruin the scene for people who have yet to see it. It simply must be seen to be fully understood and even after seeing it you will still be unable to fully comprehend the overall level of production that exists today.
This documentary isn't just about China and it isn't just about mass production, its about mass production and the effect such production has had on the environment. Its an incredibly powerful film even if were literally unable to comprehend just how big of a problem this is. I have actually heard the argument that mankind is simply too insignificant to cause any serious damage to the planet, in fact there were a couple people in my environmental engineering program that literally believed this was true. While I believe that this was once true, when population was down in the million or hundreds of millions instead of billions, its just a whole different ballgame with 6+ billion people now living on the planet and again this film really begins to show people the scale of which mass production has risen to over the last 40 years and the trouble were now beginning to face because of it.
One of the more interesting aspects to this documentary, and the still photographs as well, is the romanticizing nature some of his pictures take on. For example the cover picture of the red flowing water isn't just scary as hell from an environmental perspective, its also quite beautiful from a photographic perspective especially if your unaware of the details of the picture. It almost appears to be a lava flow. There are many of these types of images throughout the film and throughout the still photography show. These are not just documentary pictures as he clearly was looking for the best way to photograph a lot of this subject matter. It gives many of his pictures a duality that is rich in both destruction and beauty.
Bottom line - An amazing body of work that simply should not be missed. Its worth seeing just for the 8 minutes long scene in the beginning of the film. Stunning, simply stunning work by one of my favorite photographers currently working.
5 Stars
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Artistic and thought provoking
Added 11/24/2009
I concur with the other reviewers: this documentary is very well shot and would stand on its own as an object of aesthetic contemplation (like the photographs of Burtinksy themselves). The social commentary and the relationship between Burtinsky own views and his work are also explored in a subtle yet effective fashion. Highly recommended as an example of what a non-formulaic documentary can be
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Manufactured Poetry
Added 7/16/2009
The Poetry of Industry is nothing new (See Koyaanisqatsi) but it has never been shown with the force or insight of MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES. The footage featured in this film is both awesome and frightening to behold. It really makes you think about the ways we change the landscape of the earth to fit our needs and wants. This movie stayed with me for days. The DVD extra's were plentiful and thought provoking as well.
Diana Mercer is the co-author of Your Divorce Advisor and her company is [...]
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Robert Polidori meets Naomi Klein meets 60 minutes
Added 7/11/2009
A Canadian photographer shows you the dehumanization behind the Chinese economic miracle, like any industrialization process (remember Germinal by Zola in the 19th century?),the absurdity of waste yet its beauty, the merry-go-round of globalization. The movie is sometimes a little slow but maybe you want it to finish faster so that you can go back to your way of consumming as usual. It will be hard to discard your cellphone without a thought, or turn on your engine to go and buy bread, the images will hover above your shoulder and haunt you like a gardian angel warning you "do not do it!".
Two of the most amazing scenes besides the opening one are: the destruction by its own dwellers of the houses that will be flooded by the building of the Big Dam and the dismantling of the old oil tankers in Bnagladesh. I recommend this movie as a lesson of happy sobriety.
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creating beauty out of the mundane
Added 7/4/2009
Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer who makes art out of the least "artful" objects imaginable. Everyday items such as crates, boxes, metal containers, etc. - items which most of us perceive as utilitarian at best and dismiss as being utterly without aesthetic merit - are instead converted into glorious objects d`art by Burtynsky`s camera. He achieves this result by focusing on the recurring colors and geometric patterns that are apparently ever present in the industrialized world - for those perceptive enough to spot them, that is. Even heaps of compacted trash can become objects of beauty when seen through Burtynsky's lens (but didn`t we already know that from "Wall-E"?). He is particularly interested in photographing areas like mines and shipyards where Man has already made incursions into nature - which may explain why at times even the people in his pictures (i.e. the workers in those places), with their uniform clothing and robotic movements, become part of the industrial landscape.
"Manufactured Landscapes," a documentary about Burtynsky's work, has much of the feel of a "Koyaanisqatsi" about it as it dazzles us with its richly variegated kaleidoscope of images and patterns. Indeed, director Jennifer Baichwal and cinematographer Peter Mettler capture the essence of the original photos in purely cinematic terms, as their own camera records Burtynsky and his assistant running photo shoots at a factory in China, a dockyard in Bangladesh, and the construction site at the massive Three Rivers Gorge Dam project in China. With their fluid camerawork, the filmmakers match point-for-point the beauty of Burtynsky's images. In fact, the movie opens with a stunning eight-minute-long tracking shot of a Chinese factory in which hundreds of similarly dressed workers toil away in perfectly symmetrical and color-coordinated rows.
The movie does less well when Burtynsky gets around to articulating the "themes" of his work, which, quite frankly, come out sounding confused, contradictory and decidedly half-baked at best. But it is as a purely aesthetic experience, highlighting image and form, that "Manufactured Landscapes" resonates most. In the case of Burtynsky, perhaps, a picture really IS worth a thousand words.
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Simply Stunning!
Added 12/5/2009
I have actually followed Edward Burtynsky's photographic work for quite some time now. In fact he has been quite an inspiration for my own photographic work. I have now seen 5 of his exhibitions including the Manufactured Landscapes show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art back in 2005 and the updated Manufacturing Landscapes show at the Boston Museum of Science back in May of this year (2009). His work is outstanding and when I found out he was making a Manufactured Landscapes film....well lets just say I watched it the first chance I got and it certainly doesn't disappoint.
The opening scene for this documentary by itself is enough to outright stun most people. It honestly left me speechless and changed my entire outlook on China and the concept of mass production. You see the human mind has problems dealing with large numbers. for example we understand that the Sun is 93,000,000 miles away from earth yet our minds just cant grasp just how far that really is. We have no experience to compare it too. We understand how far a mile is and we can even picture how far a mile is in our heads as we have traveled a mile many times in our lives and its that experience that allows us to visualize and really understand such distances and numbers. That just isn't the case with larger numbers and our ability to really grasp just how big they really are simply breaks down. Why am I bringing this up? Because the world has reached a level of mass production that is simply beyond our comprehension and the opening scene in this film really shows this in a very simply yet creative way. A single shot that pans across the floor of one of the so called "Mega factories" in China. This one scene shows you that your not in Kansas anymore as what your looking at is a whole different level of manufacturing that many of us simply have never seen before.
Sure we have all heard about China's ability to mass produce but because of our brains inability to cope with such large numbers, we simply haven't been able to fully comprehend just how massive the scale of production really is. This one scene really helps put things in perspective and it will leave most people absolutely stunned. I wont go into anymore detail as it would ruin the scene for people who have yet to see it. It simply must be seen to be fully understood and even after seeing it you will still be unable to fully comprehend the overall level of production that exists today.
This documentary isn't just about China and it isn't just about mass production, its about mass production and the effect such production has had on the environment. Its an incredibly powerful film even if were literally unable to comprehend just how big of a problem this is. I have actually heard the argument that mankind is simply too insignificant to cause any serious damage to the planet, in fact there were a couple people in my environmental engineering program that literally believed this was true. While I believe that this was once true, when population was down in the million or hundreds of millions instead of billions, its just a whole different ballgame with 6+ billion people now living on the planet and again this film really begins to show people the scale of which mass production has risen to over the last 40 years and the trouble were now beginning to face because of it.
One of the more interesting aspects to this documentary, and the still photographs as well, is the romanticizing nature some of his pictures take on. For example the cover picture of the red flowing water isn't just scary as hell from an environmental perspective, its also quite beautiful from a photographic perspective especially if your unaware of the details of the picture. It almost appears to be a lava flow. There are many of these types of images throughout the film and throughout the still photography show. These are not just documentary pictures as he clearly was looking for the best way to photograph a lot of this subject matter. It gives many of his pictures a duality that is rich in both destruction and beauty.
Bottom line - An amazing body of work that simply should not be missed. Its worth seeing just for the 8 minutes long scene in the beginning of the film. Stunning, simply stunning work by one of my favorite photographers currently working.
5 Stars
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Artistic and thought provoking
Added 11/24/2009
I concur with the other reviewers: this documentary is very well shot and would stand on its own as an object of aesthetic contemplation (like the photographs of Burtinksy themselves). The social commentary and the relationship between Burtinsky own views and his work are also explored in a subtle yet effective fashion. Highly recommended as an example of what a non-formulaic documentary can be
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Manufactured Poetry
Added 7/16/2009
The Poetry of Industry is nothing new (See Koyaanisqatsi) but it has never been shown with the force or insight of MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES. The footage featured in this film is both awesome and frightening to behold. It really makes you think about the ways we change the landscape of the earth to fit our needs and wants. This movie stayed with me for days. The DVD extra's were plentiful and thought provoking as well.
Diana Mercer is the co-author of Your Divorce Advisor and her company is [...]
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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