I went and saw a movie:
Considering the last movie I went to see was Moulin Rouge (preceded by The Matrix and The Truman Show), I’ll give you a moment to get your jaw off the floor.
All better now? Good.
I was introduced to Ed Burtynsky’s work a few years ago when there was a showing of his large format photography at the National Art Gallery… I was blown away. Impressed and envious of his talent. I’m not going to even attempt to describe his works, because even the (significantly downscaled) samples on his website give you a better idea of the work he’s done than I could ever describe.
Prior to going, I didn’t actually have very much info as to what tonight’s film was about… Was it an interview? Showcase? Biography? Or was it just a film where he happened to be the Director of Photography (DP)???
It’s a cross-between a showcase and a documentary; there’s a few different people narrating at times, but (I think) he’s trying to get people to consider the consequences of our day to day activities. He explains at one point, about his realization about oil while he drove in his gasoline powered car built of out plastics and metals, heated by burning oil. One of the other major scenes of the film the effects of the Three Gorges Dam in China… the million people displaced and destroying their own cities to make ship-lanes, the fact the earth wobbled when they filled it, and of course, the awesome images captured during the project.
The opening scene is very impressive too… it’s a slow shot of a camera trucking along the ends of assembly lines… and it just goes on for minutes. I estimated the length to be over a kilometer, my father guessed more than 50 lines – with a row of materials between each. There’s some panning and zoom, otherwise it’s just a constant truck for several minutes. The photograph from the end of the building is a complete lesson in vanishing points. 🙂
“If said ‘This is a terrible thing that we’re doing to the planet.’ then people will either agree or disagree. By not saying what you should see, that may allow them to see their world a little differently.”
“It’s not a simple right or wrong, it needs a whole new way of thinking.”
— Edward Burtynsky