Manufactured Landscapes

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{I don’t usually post a comment in my movie reviews, but this documentary blew my mind last night. We’ve all heard and read about the rapid expansion of China as it pertains to industry and urbanization…and how they are attempting to ‘catch up’ to the western world…but I never understood the sheer magnitude of this growth until I saw this film.

I think it was watching the citizens of what was once a city (and not just a straw and mud city…a real brick, mortar and concrete city) demolish their own homes brick by brick, and getting paid to do so, so that ships traveling on the new river won’t be shipwrecked against an old apartment building, that made my rub my eyes in disbelief. The Three Gorges Dam will literally flood an entire region, dislocate over 1 million people and when finished, will be 5 times the size of the Hover Dam (thanks Wikipedia!).

All in the name of progress.

Featuring the work of artist/photographer Edward Burtynsky and directed by Jennifer Baichwal, the film maintains a objective, somewhat distant relationship to the subject matter, asking the viewer to make up his/her own mind about what they are seeing. After watching this film, I just can’t see how this planet can take much more of the punishment we’ve dished out over the past 100 years…and will continue to dish out for the foreseeable future.

Score one more for the bad guys.}