User reviews

Living in an age where Hollywood seems to believe that churning out CGI-promoted explosion orgies is the only recipe for success, this quiet documentary about the career of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado may disappoint some audiences. Basically you only get to see the Salgado's photos and Salgado's face commenting them and telling the stories that are lurking behind. Most of the movie is made in black and white. The effect could not have been greater. Not only are the viewers stunned by the visual brilliance of the pictures and their monumental qualities but they also learn a lot about the tragedies of famines and genocides that took place in Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. To be honest, these tragedies of unbelievable scope are widely forgotten in the western world. Salgado leads us into the darkest heart of humankind where absolute folly and chaos reign instead of rational judgment. Graduating as an economist, Salgado embarked on a decades-long journey as a photographer, investing all the money of his young family in professional equipment. I think it is unjust to consider him someone who makes his living by showing the misery of mankind, like some reviewer has suggested. If Salgado hadn't been there and clicked his camera, we would not have these photos now which give testimony to what really happened in Africa or Kuwait. Just think about the risks that the young father took on when he was travelling through famine-starved desert or civil war-torn regions! Apart from that, this fine documentary does not leave behind its audience in desperation; Wim Wenders deliberately ends this homage on a harmonious chord by showing a successful reforestation project in Brazil which was initiated by Salgado.

THE SALT OF THE EARTH

A documentary on the photographer, Sebastiao Salgado's passion for exposing worlds that are hidden from our view as well as the undercurrents of man's greed, violence and inhumanity - all through what co-director Wim Wenders explains is the process of " drawing with light." The other director is Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, the photographer's son. For many years, I have been beguiled by Salgado's black and white imagery, particularly as source material and inspiration for many of my own late 1980s pastels. His representations are stark and at the same time filled with an expanse of tones - from the deep darkness of coal to the blinding whites which shine with the force of incorporeality; a range of imperceptibly varied grays sandwiched in-between - all breathtakingly beautiful and often reduced to abstract patternings which are in danger of overtaking his subjects, but Salgado is a master at balancing form and content.

I was particularly moved by his photographs of the fierce deprivation that droughts and famine had wreaked on Sub- Saharan Africa - particularly Ethiopia. Because Salgado exposed situations that many people were not aware of, his photos drilled a space for perception into our consciousness. Salgado has traveled to over 100 countries - projects often lasted years and the resulting books include OTHER AMERICAS, WORKERS, SAHEL - THE END OF THE ROAD, MIGRATIONS, Africa, and most recently GENESIS - the book that became his respite after years away from his native environs, witnessing the globe's devastation, including chronicling the genocide in Rawanda and the Congo. By the late 1990's he was heartbroken: "We humans are a terrible animal; we are extremely violent…Our history is a history of war; it's an endless story…My soul was sick…I no longer believed in anything, in any salvation for the human species." (Quotes from Kenneth Turan's review in LA Times.)

THE SALT OF THE EARTH invites us to enter Salgado's personal sphere; we meet his beloved wife Leila, the enduring relationship of his life, the editor of his photographs; the mother of Juliano and Rodrigo - the youngest born with Down syndrome; the compassion and love that unites the entire family in their own personal struggles with domesticity, and the enormous achievement of reclaiming the cattle ranch that was once Salgado's home near the town of Aimores in Brazil's state of Minas Gerais. Memories of the fecund greenery and waterfalls were incised into Sebastiao's childhood recollections and when he returned in the 1990's his homeland was an environmental disaster - dry and parched.

Salgado, his spirit quenched by regarding the pillage, and spoliation around the universe was re-invigorated by Leila's dream of planting a forest in Brazil starting with a few trees and "returning the property to its natural state of subtropical rainforest…and in April 1998 they founded the Instituto Terra, an environmental organization…which has now been declared a Private Natural Heritage Reserve, some 17,000 acres of deforested and badly eroded land… have undergone a remarkable metamorphosis…More than four million seedlings native to Brazil's Atlantic Forest have been raised in the institute's own nursery…" * This resuscitation propelled Salgado to travel again focusing on the beauties of the planet, resulting in his latest book GENESIS. ( *About us -The Instituto Terra.) http://bit.ly/1JQQzvd

The documentary uses Salgado's majestic photographs interspersing them with site visits to previously unrecorded locations, including old color footage; using his voice and conversations to great effect. We get a sense of the quiet strength of this man, his commitment to justice and the deep suffering that his vision extracts with the lens of a camera. The plethora of interchangeable living beings moving about silhouetted against the background of clouds billowing in the infinite skies, underscore the brevity of time and existence. We are only here for a short interval and Salgado's output is a plea for respect, justice and accommodation among the men/women/animals and the frangible cosmos we all inhabit.

The lines on his head were deep as the lines of the earth...

Wim Wenders' new masterpiece is a visually stunning lesson about our planet and our lives. We, the people, are both the salt and the scorch of the Earth...

Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wenders have made a thoughtful emotional journey through the life and work of the famous photographer Sebastião Salgado. Both his personal and professional journeys are depicted through the photographs of the talented humanist. The adventurous journey is becoming a discovery of the human nature and after that of nature's condition. A masterful revelation this picturesque travel envisions the marks which we leave on our planet and the traces which we imprint during our stay here.

It is important to note that the overall feeling of this movie is beautifully embodied by the soundtrack as well. And this feeling is surreal - a deep voyage into darkness and light - into the power of drawing with a camera. As a photographer too, I am once again amazed how a single picture can foretell, tell and commit to a certain topic. A person, a landscape, an overall feeling - this is what we get from this film.

Intricately constructed and simplistically presented, the meaning behind these shapes and colors is not ambiguous - we are the spice which could make the Earth both a better and worse place. It is very interesting to see this whole story told in French. I felt a certain feeling mystery and wisdom throughout the whole narrative. And although some scenes were striking, one can only feel humility watching this.

I strongly recommend that every photographer, who is striving to create, should see this movie. This documentary is very much a universal message of the ever repeating cycle of anger - despair - hope. This honorable look at the artist and his power which can transform people and nature is mesmerizing. As a conclusion I truly hope that we can learn from our mistakes and not repeat them all over again. Because when you immerse your soul into the soil, you cannot stay away from the imminent introspection which comes after that...

Wim Wenders being Wim Wenders, he has nothing left to prove about movie making. So most of this documentary is simply made by the pictures of Sebastião Salgado, and by close-ups of his face: he is looking at the images (but through the screen at the same time), while telling and explaining to the audience the genesis and the reasons of his work. It is very simple, yes, but at the same time it's extremely powerful. So powerful that, after a while, I was under the impression that those still b/w images were alive: crowds in the mass scenes seemed to move, people in portraits looked like they were going to turn their heads, and talk.

This movie should be shown in schools. The work of Salgado has testified some of the major (but lesser known) disasters of recent world history, none of which came within ear of the western world - much more interested in the brilliant lives of the fashion victims than in the tragic fate of the casualties of famines and wars.

Nietzsche famously once wrote: "When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you". Salgado had the guts to stare to the abyss, without blinking - but clicking. He did it to give to others the opportunity to know, and possibly to better understand the meaning of the term "humanity". Some of Sebastião Salgado images are horrible, but it is by far more horrible to think that without him those horrors would have happened with nobody to remember about them. His work creates grounds for memory, and memory grows some chances for hope, and hope give us and some reason to believe in a better future for our troubled planet.

Very touching and beautiful doc about life, love, loss, despair, redemption and it shows how, by sheer faith, you can build a forest. Literally. The beautiful photos tell a troubling yet touching story that will make you angry at mankind. By the end you will find yourself believing again and hoping that one day you could be so humble as to reflect on the negative influences in your life and thus be able to change those nativities into positive reactions . You are probably not doing enough for the world around you and when you see how easy it is to make real change, hopefully it will be a call to action. If a picture tells 1000 words, then this film tells 1000 stories.

You completely missed the point of this documentary. I doubt you even watched it till the end. And if you did, you missed the point. Let me make it simple for you. This "photographer" did not just "go" and took a few 'clicks' and selfies, as you make it sound, selling them for wealth. Your review is absolutely appaling. Sebastiao dedicatied his whole life, living among other cultures, documenting their lives. He sacrificed his 'family time' for this. Years of sacrifice. Years of living with the horror of wars, death and famine. He did not see his own children for long periods of time. And let me tell you, his work MATTERS. It's not about the money he made. Is about showing the world the truth about other cultures, about madness and war and lost (and found) paradise. Because in this era, it's easy to deny even the Holocaust! Sebastiao Salgado is a witness of history as it really happened, for a world devoured by fake news. Consider yourself blessed to have watched such a documentary, and pray that if a war will rage across your city, you'll have enough altruism within you to help your neighbour. That's what this documentary is really about. To question yourself of what can you do better, in a desperate situation. It beggs you to be outraged by the destruction humans can bring on this planet. It's not a film about Sebastiao. It's about you. So if you rated it 3, that's the rating you're giving to yourself. Do better.

It's a beautiful movie, though some parts were absolutely terrifying to watch.

There was no indication after watching several trailers of what lay ahead in terms of the suffering it very graphically depicted. It was almost about half the length of the film as well.

For most who are calloused, you will probably be fine. But be aware, those who are sensitive. It took me about 2 days to recover from the haunting images and pain they brought. I am glad I saw it though, because I received at least three wonderfully inspiring experiences from it:)

A fascinating Wim Wenders documentary about Brazilian photographer, Sabastiao Salgado, detailing his life, and varied photographic projects from around the world. Wonderfully filmed, imaginatively edited.

Mainly known as a social photographer, Sabastiao Salgado has documented and revealed the horrors of war, famine and poverty. His travels around the world have accessed hidden brutalities and exposed injustices.

Perhaps as a respite from the human extremes he has witnessed he has recently moved on to projects about the environment. The film features many of his photos and numerous interviews with insights into his personal life.

"We are a ferocious animal. We humans are terrible animals. Our history is a history of wars. It's an endless story, a tale of madness." – Sebastião Salgado

Directed by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado this documentary goes through the life of the photographer Sebastião Salgado, from its childhood times in Minas Gerais until his current role as an activist and founder of Instituto Terra. Not following the typical poetic and metaphorical style, and sometimes pretentious, that characterizes Wim so much, this documentary follows a simple line, however it's not a light viewing. In fact, it's hard, graphic and even chocking in some parts. Divided between the outside interpretations of Wim and Juliano, they reckon their perspectives were complemented with each other's, Juliano as son of Sebastião and Wim as the outside look, admirer of Salgado's work. But it's when Sebastião analyzes its photographs, the highlight of the film, that we realize who he really is and what he testified, transporting us into an incredible journey of anger, despair and hope.

1. this is a very good documentary 2. the photographer has a unique eye and drive to travel to impossible places 3. only reason why I am giving it a 9 out of 10 is that I expected more happy moments along with all the starvation/war/struggling miner moments 4. I would still recommend this movie to any creative person who is interested in photography, human history, current events, and personal growth. 5. You will not be disappointed with his frames and photography skills! 6. they include personal moments and love stories to go along with his adventures and photography. 7. my favorite part was the scenes/photography about the Yugoslavian/Bosnian people and their struggles during the war because I used to be good friends with people from that culture back in my refugee days in Germany.

Go check out the movie!

Watching a documentary can be a powerful experience. A good documentary does what any good film does – entertains, educates and makes you feel something. Of course, a documentary is usually more concerned with the last two of those three, but if it does them well, the entertainment value will inevitably be part of the mix. It's also worth noting that the documentary has the impact of truth and reality on its side. Few feature films can match the raw emotional power of a well-done documentary about a compelling subject – especially one that relates to the lives of the audience. You get all of that with "The Salt of the Earth" (PG-13, 1:50), a 2014 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature.

The film traces the career of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, a man whose initial career path was about as far from the arts as you can get, but nevertheless has made an indelible mark on the way we see the people and the lands that are part of this planet we all share. Salgado started studying law in college, but switched majors and ended up getting a master's degree in economics. He began using his wife's camera to document his travels in Africa on missions for the World Bank. Soon, he and his wife, Lélia, both came to realize that Sebastião could have a bigger and more positive impact with his life by using his obvious natural talent as a photographer, showing people both what was right and what was wrong with the world in which we live. With his understanding of economic conditions and global trade informing the projects he chose for himself, he went from working as a photojournalist to being part of an international organization of photographers, to striking out on his own, with Lélia as his main supporter, his chief adviser and his primary photo editor. Famed gallery curator Hal Gould has said that Salgado is the most important photographer of the early 21st century. To learn Salgado's story is to discover that statements like that one are difficult to dispute.

Salgado's photo projects often lasted years and flowed organically, one into the next, based on his interests and the things he learned along the way. In this documentary, we see him discover the lesser known areas of his native South America (and into Central America) for his project "The Other Americas". The poverty and desperation that he uncovered led him to explore a part of the world with similar problems, the Sahel region of Africa, a continent to which he would make many trips in his career. These experiences led him to other long-term projects, documenting "Workers" all over the world and then helping to publicize the plight of refugees in "Migrations". This latter project and his ongoing interest in Africa resulted in Salgado covering the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. The horror he witnessed caused Salgado to put down his camera, but his contributions to helping us all understand our world through his photography did not end there. In fact, not only would he pick up his camera many times in the years to come, but he and his family have ended up making contributions to the planet that may have a much bigger impact than the photos that he has shown in galleries and published in books all over the world.

"The Salt of the Earth" was directed by two men who can only be seen as the perfect team to bring Sebastião Salgado's story to life. Wim Wenders, a previous Oscar nominee for his documentaries "Pina" and "Buena Vista Social Club", brings his experience and expertise to this film, not only as a lauded documentarian, but also as a photographer. Wenders' co-director is none other than Sebastião Salgado's son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, who tells his father's story through the eyes of someone who grew up enduring his father's extended absences, but as an adult, began to accompany Sebastião on his globe-trotting adventures.

As Juliano narrates and shoots Sebastião's story and Wenders procduces, we see a man apply his impressive intellect not to making himself rich, but to enriching our understanding of the world in which we live – and how we can make it better. We see a man who once sported a bushy beard and a twinkle in his eye transform into a man whose face and head are devoid of hair and whose impenetrable eyes belie the emotion that occasionally cracks his voice as he talks about his experiences. We see a man of uncompromising artistic integrity and a seemingly bottomless well of personal energy and concern for the earth and its inhabitants. In short, we see a small portion of a unique body of work and we get to know the man behind those photographs and other projects that make him so unforgettable.

This film steers clear of the frills of many documentaries and lets the photographer's stark black and white images speak for themselves, many on screen for a brief moment when the camera seems to move through them to reveal the face of the man telling the stories behind the photos. This film starts very slowly and never gets to a point that one would describe as exciting, but there is no denying the impact of the images, the stories they tell and the singular importance of Sebastião Salgado, the man behind the camera. "B+".

Never mind the documentary side of things, this is very much a photography watching paradise. Yes, as you can imagine, there is a bit of storytelling about the photographer himself, but the salt of the earth is not pretending to be a tabloid in video format. Who cares anyway? I don't. All I want to see is more and more work by this great man. Sincerely, during the first 1H30 of the movie, until he returns to Brazil, I did not go 1 minute of the film without being awed by the marvelous visuals I was witnessing.

It is surely one of the most enjoyable documentaries I have ever seen. I feel like I have seen the planet with completely different eyes. Absolutely, compulsory viewing for photographers, planet lovers, and anyone with a mild interest for things.

You may not consider a two hour documentary, that is in large part a slideshow of Brazilian Social photographer Sebastião Salgado's portfolio, featuring many, many dead and mutilated bodies, a significant proportion of them children and babies would be the recipe for entertainment but, trust me, it is.

This movie, co-directed and produced by Wim Wenders and Salgado's son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, should be essential viewing for anyone with any interest in humanity, humanitarian aid and politics because the vast bulk of it covers Salgado's career as a social photographer who specialised in capturing images of large populations of the displaced and downtrodden or victims of natural disaster and war. This takes in Eritrea, Rwanda, Kosovo, the Oil fires of Kuwait, left in Saddam's wake, and the biblical and truly epic nature of his most famous work; the gold mines of Brazil where up to 50,000 men gold prospected in deep pits of mud.

Wender narrates and Salgado Jr and Hugo Barbier share cinematography duties. That's no small undertaking as they are filming a master at work and in the flesh, but somehow their cameras are every bit as inspiring as Salgado Sr's.

As the film develops we see where this fame has taken Salgado, back to his native Brazil where he has established a conservation project of such dramatic scale that it has been transformed into a natural park. It's a remarkable achievement.

Salgado's photography places him in the most esteemed company in photographic history (with Ansell Adams he ranks as my personal favourite - coincidentally both photograph strictly in monochrome). What makes this tribute so moving is Salgado's personal reminiscences of how he witnessed children die and wars that are so utterly pointless.

At one point we see an image of a man placing his dead baby onto a vast pile of dead bodies - of Holocaust proportions. Salgado says, and I paraphrase, "He turned away almost chatting to his friend so inured was he to the horror in which he was living."

Towards the end it all gets too much for him, he very nearly breaks down. The audience is with him the way.

This is a must see film. Really must see on so many levels. A straight 10/10.

I went to see this critically acclaimed film with my friend photographer who had studied and emulated Sebastião Salgado well received and revered black and white work.

I had seen a suggestive and interesting movie trailer and was later pleased, doing my research, to see Wim Wenders involved. He had done the daring, decisive, eclectic, artistic tribute to Pina (2011) which I loved and to a lesser extent was able to catch some of the essence of Cuba and its music in Buena Vista Social Club (1999). Wenders is remarkable here and sets the tone. Now the other revelation as the co-writer/director as well as co-cinematographer is Sebastião Salgado's son: Juliano Ribeiro Salgado.

Juliano documents his father (and parts of his own) life and journey and makes the piece even more personal. This reminded me of the moving tribute of Nathaniel Kahn to his dad Louis Kahn in My Architect (2003) with a huge difference being that Sebastião Salgado (and even the grandfather Sebastião Salgado senior) were still alive to film together as opposed to a posthumous search for the trace of one's father through his work and people's anecdotes in the case of Khan.

As for the movie itself it is a treat to the eyes, heart, head and soul. It combines beautiful and often haunting photographs with story, narration, interview and introspection. It tell the tales in three prominent continents of the continuous search for understanding of humanity's worse and best achievements and attitudes. It conveys, loss, fear, hopelessness, innocence, injustice and intolerance. It talks about war, politics, environment, economics, etc. Salgado was surprisingly an economist before leaving his steady job with a dream and his wife's camera to wander in Africa in search of human truth.

He found that and more. A talent and an eye for camera, for capturing the man and the moment. The past, the future, the present and the context. The composition and the subtext... the sublime!

Will everyone appreciate this film? Probably not. Yet for those who have the interest, the patience and the chance to see this documentary and delve into the decades of work, thoughts, themes and realizations of one man (and his loving, equally brave and brilliant, supportive family) will be greatly enriched and inspired by it. This film is like talking to a father wise beyond his years. A wisdom shared and mutually understood if not lived. Lived through his words and pictures. Because beyond all the darkness and difficulties, there is a light.

Photography come from phōs meaning light

Another documentary for the ages.

The sound of 50,000 people in a gold mine in Brazil takes one back to the time the pyramids were built. You may hear the gold whispering. Here there are slaves to the idea of getting rich. Among the Tarahumera of Mexico no one walks so much as flies. Witness in the Balkans, Iraq, Rwanda and elsewhere how contagious hatred can be. The beautiful and terrible images of photographer Sebastião Salgado are seared in my consciousness like a profound dream. This is thanks to the masterful storytelling by the documentary filmmakers. They take viewers around the world and on waves of emotion, to understand photographer Sebastião Salgado's life and unique way of seeing things.

The portrait is extremely powerful. Sebastião's adventures brought him in contact with diverse peoples with very different senses of time, rhythms and ways of thinking. Behind every mountain, in each person's eyes, there is a compelling story. The film went in surprising directions and is unpredictable. This may be different if you are familiar with Sebastião and his work, which I was not. The real life, words, images and stories in this film are enthralling. It is fascinating to understand what healed Sebastião's despair, but to reveal this would mar the ending, which I will not do. You should see for yourself! Available on Netflix.

My Rating : 10/10 ♠ HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ♠

The film follows 40 years of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado's work from South America, to Africa, Europe, the Arctic, and back home to Brazil focusing on international conflicts, starvation and exodus, and natural landscapes in decline.

Absolute Must-See.

Wim Wenders's film is based upon the true and agreeable story of the greatest Brazilian creator : Sebastian Salgado, instantly recognisable on his gorgeous black and white photographs . Salgado and his work are the focus of the film The Salt of the Earth (2014), directed by Wim Wenders and Salgado's son, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, and produced by Lélia Wanick Salgado . Concerning life and work , for the last 40 years , of this awesome photographer , Sebastião Salgado, who has spent forty years documenting societies , travelling through the continents and exploring along with his camera in hidden corners of the world, while paying a deep tribute to the planet's beauty . He has witnessed some of the major events of our recent history ; international conflicts , in Brazil , Borneo , Kuwait , Rwanda , including starvation , wars and exodus . At the same time are revealed to us in this documentary , his over-the-top work , his peaceful ideology , good-natured thought , ecology feeling and many other things.

This splendid , enjoyable documentary depicts the interesting life of the great photographer Sebastiao Salgado who has been travelling through the continents here and there , discovering new issues to shoot . As Salgado initially worked with the photo agency Sygma and the Paris-based Gamma, but in 1979, he joined the international cooperative of photographers Magnum Photos. He left Magnum in 1994 and with his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado formed his own agency, Amazonas Images, in Paris, to represent his work. He is particularly noted for his social documentary photography of workers in less developed nations and following the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. His work resides in Paris. Salgado works on long term, self-assigned projects, many of which have been published as books : The Other Americas, Sahel, Workers, Migrations, and Genesis. The latter three are mammoth collections with hundreds of images each from all around the world. His most famous pictures are of a gold mine in Brazil called Serra Pelada. He has also been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2001 . Together, Lélia and Sebastião have worked since the 1990s on the restoration of a part of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. In 1998, they succeeded in turning 17,000 acres into a nature reserve and created the Instituto Terra. The institute is dedicated to a mission of reforestation, conservation , environmental education and embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of grandiose outdoors , of wild fauna and flora . Between 2004 and 2011, Salgado worked on Genesis, aiming at the presentation of the unblemished faces of nature and humanity. It consists of a series of photographs of landscapes and wildlife, as well as of human communities that continue to live in accordance with their ancestral traditions as well as cultures , and always in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity . This body of work is conceived as a potential path to humanity's rediscovery of itself in nature. In September and October 2007, Salgado displayed his photographs of coffee workers from India, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Brazil at the Brazilian Embassy in London. This film The Salt of the Earth (2014) won a special award at Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Academy Awards. It won the 2014 Audience Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the 2015 Audience Award at the Tromsø International Film Festival, and the César Award for Best Documentary Film at the 40th César Awards.

This fascinating documentary was competently directed by Wim Wenders . This great German director Wim Wenders has made thoughtful and thought-provoking films , and he has a peculiar fascination with rare and outlandish roles . He has made various prestigious documentaries , and notorious fiction movies and he even worked in Hollywood . As Francis Ford Coppola, as producer , gave Wenders the chance to direct in America : Hammett (1982) that was a critical and commercial failure . However , his American-made Paris, Texas (1984) (1984) received critical hosannas, wining three awards at Cannes, including the Palme d'Or, and Wenders won a BAFTA for best director. "Paris, Texas" was a prelude to his greatest success , "Wings of Desire"(1987) , which he made back in Germany . The film brought him the best director award at Cannes and was a solid hit, even spawning an egregious Hollywood remake and later on , Wenders himself directed a second part : ¨Faraway, So Close!¨(1993) that won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes . Wenders followed it up with a critical and commercial flop "Until the End of the World"(1991) . Since the mid-1990s, Wenders has distinguished himself as a non-fiction filmmaker, directing several highly acclaimed documentaries , most notably ¨Buena Vista Social Club¨ (1999) and ¨Pina¨ (2011), both of which brought him Oscar nominations , as well as this The Salt of the Earth (2014). Rating : 7/10 , decent and agreeable documentary , though slow-moving , at times . The flick will appeal to Wim Wenders followers.

I found the documentary a bit boring. The story about this family and his kids etc didnt make sense to me and i didnt like the scenario or wenders close up of the photographer all the time. I found this a very narcissistic film and not a great story.

Many times a son asks why his father was absent so much when he was young, or perhaps why he is uncommunicative. Later in life he discovers that his father had some special task to do or that he was not able to discuss his work. In the case of Juliano Salgado he discovers first hand what is involved in capturing nature in all its beauty while filming his father at work. Sebastião's many trips to Africa obviously took him away for long periods of time, but the results of his work are a historical record of some of mankind's horrible deeds. The film describes the socio political context of Brazil in the 60s and 70s which is important to understand the trajectory of the young couple in their exile to France and their joint partnership in photography. The black and white scenes of early Brazil and the grandfather's ranch are wonderful. The ending is also well chosen to give us hope for the future, in the successful reclamation of the property by replanting the mata atlântica.

I was pleasantly surprised to see 'The salt of the Earth' in the documentary movie collection of the United Airlines. This is a documentary about legendary photographer Sebastiao Salgado and his life's work.

Started with an excited heart, it left me heartbroken in the end. It's amazing how a man saw so much war, loss of lives and cruelty but still believes in humans. Every book he has published is product of a grueling journey of years - each of those books completely transformed him.

This is what photography is supposed to be. I wonder how many photographers nowadays have such dedication.

Salgado is one of the best photographers... Absolutely worth of watching... Two thumbs up...

Absolutely stunning images from photographer Sebastião Salgado, and a documentary that informs us of not only of his fascinating life and travels, but also something deeper and disturbing about mankind that we all would probably rather not think too much about. It had me in that opening sequence at a gold mine in Brazil, with extraordinary images and these lines from Salgado:

"When I reached the edge of that enormous hole every hair on my body stood on end. I'd never seen anything like it. Here, in a split second, I saw unfolding before me the history of mankind. The building of the pyramids, the Tower of Babel, the mines of King Solomon. Not the sound of a single machine could be heard. All you could hear was the babble of 50,000 people in one huge hole. Conversations, noises, human sounds mingled with the sounds of manual labor. I had returned to the dawn of time. I could almost hear the gold whispering in the souls of these men."

Throughout the film, the photographer's comments are brilliant, adding not just context but amplifying the humanism or despair of the images he captured. We see native peoples hidden deep in the continents of South America and Africa, the struggles of the working class and refugees, the hellscape of Kuwait during the first Gulf War, and genocide and famine in Africa. Beware, there are many, many images which are truly horrifying and depressing, leading Salgado to lose all faith in mankind, saying:

"We are a ferocious animal. We humans are terrible animals. Here in Europe, in Africa, in South America, everywhere, we are extremely violent. Our history is a history of wars. It's an endless story, a story of repression, a tale of madness." And then later: "When I left there (Rwanda), I no longer believed in anything, in any salvation for the human species. You couldn't survive such a thing. We didn't deserve to live. No one deserved to live. How many times did I lay my camera down to cry over what I'd seen?"

Balancing this out a bit are fantastic photographs of wildlife, and the heartwarming re-planting of a forest in Brazil. Salgado not only muses over the longevity and power of the trees, noting that the little sprouts he's holding may live 400-500 years, but also the oneness of all living things. It's a deeply profound, moving work, and I thought director Wim Wenders did a great job framing it all, incorporating a great soundtrack, and then remaining for the most part in the background to let Salgado speak through his extraordinary life experiences and photos. This is one to seek out.