''The Salt of the Earth'' (also released under the French title ''Le sel de la terre'') is a 2014 internationally co-produced biographical documentary film directed by

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. It portrays the works of Salgado's father, the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. The film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film '' Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bi ...

where it won the Special Prize. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 87th Academy Awards. It won the 2014 Audience Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the 2015 Audience Award at the Tromsø International Film Festival. It also won the

César Award for Best Documentary Film The César Award for Best Documentary Film (french: César du meilleur film documentaire) is an award presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma since 1995. History In 1995, director Marcel Ophüls protested that his film, t ...

at the

40th César Awards The 40th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, honoured the best films of 2014 in France and took place on 20 February 2015 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The ceremony was chaired by actor- ...

Overview

Salgado's photographs and videos featured in the film explored natural environments and the humans who inhabit them. His black and white photographs illuminated how the environment and humans are exploited to maximize profit for the global economic market. Co-directed by Salgado's son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, the film also contains recollections from his childhood of a father who was absent much of the time and the times he accompanied his father on trips to discover who Salgado was beyond his childhood conception. The film follows 40 years of Salgado's work from South America, to Africa, Europe, the Arctic, and back home to Brazil focusing on international conflicts, starvation and exodus, and natural landscapes in decline.

Synopsis

Salgado begins a career as an economist with his wife, Lélia, by his side. During a stint in Paris, Lélia buys a camera, and Salgado discovers his love of photography. He uses his own photos and videos to illustrate his life and work beginning with his exile from Brazil and his subsequent transition from economist to artist and explorer. Salgado begins working full-time as a photographer in 1973, first news photography then documentary-style, with Lelia supporting him. Salgado travels around South America, including the countries neighboring his native Brazil, where he spends time among and photographs native tribes like the

Zo'é The Zo'é people are a native tribe in the State of Pará, Municipality of Óbidos, on the Cuminapanema River, Brazil. They are a Tupi–Guarani people. Name They are also known as the Poturu, Poturujara, or Buré. The term "Zo'é" means "us, ...

, who lived lives not much touched by the modern world. Next, Salgado travels to the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

region of Africa, shown in unflinching and heartbreaking video and photographs. Salgado refers to the famine in Ethiopia as a problem of distribution, not just a natural disaster. He documents the largest ever refugee camps and the innumerable deaths that occurred there, from hunger, cholera, and cold. His work covering famine in Africa brings worldwide attention to the region and the underlying causes. After photographing the

Yugoslavian war The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

and Rwanda right after the genocide to one year later, Salgado loses hope for humanity. Going back to his natal Minas Gerais, he founds Instituto Terra and re-forests his family land. Then he is inspired to photograph the wildlife.

Reception

''The Salt of the Earth'' received largely positive reviews from critics. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of critics have given the film a positive review with an average rating of 8.00/10, based on 94 reviews. The site's critics consensus states: "While the work it honors may pose thorny ethical questions that ''Salt of the Earth'' neglects to answer, it remains a shattering, thought-provoking testament to Sebastião Salgado's career." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salt Of The Earth 2014 films 2010s biographical films 2014 documentary films French biographical films French documentary films Brazilian biographical films Brazilian documentary films Italian biographical films Italian documentary films 2010s French-language films 2010s Italian-language films 2010s Portuguese-language films Biographical documentary films Films directed by Wim Wenders Films shot in Brazil Films shot in Indonesia Films shot in Russia Films scored by Laurent Petitgand 2010s English-language films 2010s French films 2014 multilingual films French multilingual films Brazilian multilingual films Italian multilingual films