Waste Land Documentary Response

There were many memorable moments in the movie Waste Land, that we watch over a course of three days in class. However, I believe the most memorable moment in the movie was when the garbage pickers that posed for Vik Muniz, saw the finish product. I thought that their reactions to it were priceless, and they received a large amount of money for working for Vik, and for posing in the pictures, and i thought that was very generous. I also like the way they all thought "Wow. That person in that picture is me."  One other moment that i thought was memorable was when the older picker, Valter, was on the truck and he was so happy and positive, even though his job doesn't pay a lot, and he is poor. While most of the other pickers told stories about negative things that happened to them, Valter was very optimistic and told uplifting stories. I believe that the garbage pickers liked doing something bigger than just picking out the recyclables, out of the garbage. I think that they felt special and important since most of them have had devastation in their lives at one point or another. For example, Isis, had watched her son die of pneumonia, and her daughter was taken away by the father. She says that she hasn't seen her daughter since she was two old, and he daughter now is 8 years old. I believe that having the pickers work their really lifted their spirits and made them feel that they were apart something meaningful. If I were the subject of this project I would feel very special because I would be the center attention. And usually i would be in a giant group picking recyclables out of a bunch of garbage.