The Spectre of Hope (2002)

Let's be realistic.

hyped garbage

Better Late Then Never

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

WOW....what an incredible life Brazilian economist turned photographer Sebastião Salgado has led...what awesome- in the true sense of the word- images he has captured...and what an incredible story this documentary tells. The opening sequence of this film tweaks my intrigue for one reason.... he looks a lot like the elusive Chris Marker! The film is written by British painter turned writer John Berger. It began when he met Salgado in a cabin in the French Alps to discuss his book called "Migrations". Salgado begins by discussing how he watched tens of thousands of people die before his eyes- without being able to do anything but capture their pain and suffering in an image. Berger goes on to tell us of Salgado's subsequent journey across 43 countries over 6 years! The one consistency he observed was that everywhere he went there were people on the move, trying to maintain a living and feed their families. His goal became to the capture the essence of these people's lives with photography- the bastard "face of globalization". His photography is both eerie and chilling, yet stunningly beautiful.The film is basically organized in two parts: the discussion between Salgado and Berger which acts like a Director's commentary would for a film- and numerous montages of Salgado's photography in which close ups and pans are used as a means to analyze the image- helping us as viewers to absorb each and every detail.They quote the statistic that 1 in 5 people benefit from globalization, while 4 of 5 end up suffering. Salgado's photography reveals the reality of the situation for those 4 out of 5- forcing us to confront it. This film details and discusses Salgado's photography and experiences in places such as Rwanda, Sudan, former-Yugoslavia, Mexico, Afghanistan, Iraqi Kurdistan and Mozambique. The images speak for themselves.As Berger states- Salgado's photography and this film leaves us with the question..."Who needs who the most? They us? Or us them? 10 out of 10. Without Question.

I was really disappointed in this documentary. Everything from poverty to environmental degradation to mass migration is blamed on one thing and one thing only..."globalization." I find it impossible to believe that someone traveling in developing countries for 6 years would ignore the real root causes of some of the most serious problems facing the world, including disease, drought, corruption, conflict, and failed political systems. The majority of the photos depicted, while very powerful, most likely depict one or more of these realities.What this documentary boils down to is little more than socialist propaganda. Instead of a thoughtful look at some of the root causes of poverty, what we are left with instead is propaganda material for the trendy 18-21 year old anti-globalization crowd. Certainly capitalism isn't perfect, and corporations need to be kept in check by public opinion, but if that is the case then let's get down to specifics and identify which companies are committing which acts of malice, single them out, and pressure them into change. This has been done before, and we've sweat shops closed and company products boycotted, and it's because we live in a free society that we can carry out such campaigns. So please let's carry on with some more productive investigation and response activity, instead of hanging out with the maladjusted youths and throwing rocks at WTO and World Bank officials.

A modern look of globalisation and the real world through the eyes of a photographer.This changed the way I looked at the world. I saw a picture of the world that we don't see a lot. A documentary about an exellent photographer.