'Waste Land'

'Waste Land' follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz as he returns to Brazil's Jardim Gramacho, the world's biggest dump.

Muniz uses the garbage as his medium, and the catadores who collect recyclable materials from the waste as both his subjects and his assistants.

The film by Lucy Walker, like Muniz's art project, is built from elements that are intended to contradict. Beautiful art and fascinating people emanating from the world's biggest garbage dump.

Among the characters pulled into the project is Zumbi, who reads books he finds in the garbage and quotes Machiavelli; Irma, a trained chef, cooks and sells meals for the catadores.

On one level, it is a fascinating documentary simply about the art itself and the multi-year process through which it was created.

On another level it touches on the lives of the catadores who have suffered through numerous hardships.

One of the more interesting moments occurs fairly late into the film.

Muniz starts to debate if he was doing the right thing by taking them out of their environment and introducing them to the world of an artist, when they will have to return when the work is complete.

A beautiful film dealing with a dirty subject matter, 'Waste Land' succeeds as both a look at a way of life few people see, and of the way in which art was created.

'Waste Land' screens today at 8.15 p.m. at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.