Salt Of The Earth (12A)

Directed by Wim Wenders & Juliano Salgado
Picturehouse, Liverpool
24th - 30th July 2015

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

This is a remarkable film documentary of the Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado.

The large screen format in the Box at FACT is the perfect medium for viewing the full impact of his harrowing images - all of them captured in black & white - of the ravages of war, displacement, famine and other horror shows of the 20th century, including Ethiopia, Congo and Bosnia, and the burning oil fields of Kuwait in 1991, which comes across as Hell personified.

There is a numbing twenty minute sequence midway through the film which starkly shows the utter despair of the human condition, with every photograph shown asking the question how can humanity behave like this?

Salgado is quoted as saying: "Everyone should see these images to see how terrible our species has become."

Co-director Wim Wenders allows Salgado to describe his own story, superimposing his face, bathed in monochrome light, over his images.

Despite the sights he has seen and photographed, he is still optimistic that Mankind can repair the damage it has inflicted on fellow humans and the planet as a whole. For instance he is a driving force behind the planting of large numbers of trees in a part of Brazil where he now lives. I truly admire his idealism.

Access www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk/sebastiaosalgado to see examples of his wondrous photography.

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