This documentary felt complete to me. Since it was a documentary the ending wasn’t planned, and could’ve gone any way that life wanted to take it.
Even though I wasn’t there for the beginning of the film, I was still able to see the transformations of the workers. Vik Muniz was able to change the lives of these people by allowing them to work for it and seeing the fruits of their labor. He knew about their life stories, and could just have easily raised money for them, instead he connected with them and used his talents as well as theirs to bring change. He gave them the hope and recognition by bringing their stories to light. The work the catadores did weren’t the ones that were greatly sought after but they still made money through their humble works. Vik was able to see them as equals even when the people of their own communities didn’t. When they would take the public transportation home, people would turn their noses up and look down on them because they smelled from a day’s worth of hard work. They all had the drive to do something better with their lives, but not through the easy way out. The catadores wanted a better lives for themselves and saw that they could accomplish something through hard work.
–Chloe Chai
That’s a great point about how Vik saw them as equals. It made me think about how not only were they changed through his work but he was also changed by his work. He did not expect to become so emotionally connected to these people. He just thought that he would be able to come in, take pictures, and get out. But these people are so much more than the work they do, and I love how Vik and the film highlighted that.