Summary of Film: The Salt of the Earth is a 2014 biographical documentary film portraying the life works of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. The film was co-directed by Wim Wenders and Salgado’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado. This documentary about Salgado, who many regard as one of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th century. Following the timeline of his life, the film begins in Brazil. Salgado was born to a successful cattle farmer, and at the age of 15, he left home and began his study of economics. In 1969 he was exiled from his home country for protests against the military dictatorship. He and his wife Leila then settled down in Paris where he began his transition from economist to photographer and explorer. Initially, he developed a passion for photography while working for a coffee company and taking several visits to Africa. Salgado soon gives up the corporate life and dove headfirst into his film career. The documentary then moves on to his first project, which saw Salgado spending the majority of time living among native tribes that were untouched or forgotten by the modern world. Salgado then traveled to Africa with the organization Doctors Without Borders, documenting the famine and suffering occurring in the Sahel region of Africa. He would become entranced by the hardships and atrocities that plagued the people of Rwanda before and after the Genocide. Additionally, Saldago is synonymous with the documentation and photography of the Yugoslavian Genocide and Kuwaiti Oil disaster. His career is a testament to someone’s ability to endure and witness countless evils throughout the globe. Eventually, enough was enough for Salgado, who returns home to his childhood home. He and his wife Leila would find purpose and passion again in photography by restoring the natural environment around his childhood home. His environmental work eventually leads to a reestablished love for photography. He could never return to the continent of his past but found peace again by filming the natural environment. The documentary ends with his new project “Genesis”, which looks at the impact of humans on the natural environment.  

Explanation of Transnationalism: Transinalism is known as the economic, social, and political interactions between nations, cultures, and societies. This documentary centers upon the ideas of transnationalism and cultural identity. Salgado made it his life’s work to document and bring to life the lives of neglected and oppressed cultures and societies throughout the globe. As an economist by trade, Salgado naturally possessed an understanding of the global economic market. Many of his works have been aimed at taking down faulty, unjust socio-economic and political systems throughout the globe. Ultimately his work in African would be his most influential and directly tied in to the topic of refugees and nationalism. Salgado is synonymous for his photography and reporting on multiple genocides and the resulting mass transits of displaced peoples, during the ’80s and ’90s. He began his morbid fixation in Ethiopia, where famine and poor governmental leadership had led to the starvation and death of 1,000s. He then dedicated the mid 90’s to reporting on the Rwanda Genocide and the subsequent massive refugee camps that followed. Salgado’s mental tipping point would eventually come after experiencing the evils of human society. He saw first hand the hardships faced by refugees every day. This film is the perfect example of transnationalism, as his life’s work was dedicated to photographing the movement of people and cultures.

Embed Clip:

Analysis of the Clip:

The clip captures one of Wenders’ and Salgado’s main themes of the documentary, which is man is just another species on this Earth. The usage of the word “species” helps convey this idea, as do other segments in the film, especially towards the end when Salgado begins photographing other species. Specifically breaking down Salgado’s photographs, he captures not just the facts of the time, but the truths the people of Rwanda were facing. This clip captures the displacement and genocide of a group of people, providing a look at humanity in one of its darkest hours.

From a cinematic point of view, the segment is just a slideshow of pictures with narration laid over it. The pictures, however, bring about a reality that many have never seen. Salgado says, “Everybody should see these images, to see how terrible our species is.” The quote encapsulates what this documentary is about, humans as a species and how we treat other humans and species on this planet. 

Connection and Larger Themes:

This clip is relevant today because there are many instances like this that happen around the globe, maybe not to this extent, but similar situations. It brings to light scenarios that many people don’t have to worry about in their day to day lives. The documentary and the clip also serve as a communicative memory. Although Salgado was not someone who was a target of the Rwandan genocide, he was there experiencing first-hand what was happening to the people. One of the topics we have discussed in class is the Holocaust in Germany, which was the genocide of the Jewish people by the Nazi’s. While it is not a very recent event, it is still one that many people know about and some even remember today. A more recent incident that is currently taking place is the genocide of the Kurdish people in Turkey. Many of them have been displaced in this time of turmoil. Lots of people do not know this is going on and to the severity of the situation the Kurdish people are in. It’s also not a new scenario, this has been happening for years, and a documentation of this sort about their situation would bring much-needed light to their pleas for help. 

Mondello, Bob. “Photography, Misery And Beauty In ‘The Salt Of The Earth’.” NPR, NPR, 27 Mar.2015,www.npr.org/2015/03/27/395800345/photography-misery-and-beauty-in-the-salt-of-the-earth.