The
Salt of the Earth is a
film that portrays the works of Sebastião Salgado. In the film, Sebastião describes
how his experiences changed him profoundly, and in many ways, the film did the
same for me. It features his stunning photographs from Africa, South America,
and central Europe. At the beginning, Sebastião explains that he chose to
follow and photograph people because he cares about them and sees them as the
salt of the earth.
Sebastião would leave his family and
immerse himself for years at a time in the lives of different groups of people
in order to better understand them and capture their stories. His black and
white images of “humanity on the move” have the power to communicate their
pain, despair, hunger, desperation, determination, love, and hope. It is impossible
for me to comprehend what these people experienced and so many continue to
experience every day. This film, however, gave me enough of a glimpse to know I
want to do something, anything, to make even the smallest difference.
Sebastião said that what he learned
about human nature and the world we live in made him deeply apprehensive about
the future. The film shows that he was so much affected by what he had
witnessed that he needed to put down his camera and take a break to allow his
soul time to heal. Much of this healing was made possible for him through
replanting his father's forest on the hills he grew up on in Brazil. Watching
new life grow where there was nothing but death and dry wasteland provided him
with some hope and joy again. The message to me was that hope is never lost
completely and one person can make a
significant difference to the world.
Deciding to become more aware of
complex issues like these is not easy. It is more comfortable to just set something we hear aside on a shelf when we know it will affect us emotionally. When you
become aware you start to care, caring means you feel the need to act in
some way, and action takes effort. However, Sebastião shows that effort is absolutely
necessary, and worth it.
I would highly recommend
this film to anyone. It will change you. The trailer is bellow.
Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OivMlWXtWpY
This is really late, but I like what you said about how hope is not lost and even one person can make a difference. It seems like so often we think that we can't do anything because we're only one person, but all it takes is one person to get a snowball rolling. Once we've put our effort in then others will come and join in. Great post!
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