“Garbage Dreams” Offers Heap of Info
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
For those of you who live within the shadow of Key West’s Mount Trashmore, the idea of a documentary about garbage dumps in Egypt may seem far removed. But it’s worth a viewing, this intriguing look at three teenage trash collectors living in the world’s largest trash village.
“Garbage Dreams” – with ten festival wins so far as Best Documentary – is playing today at the Tropic Cinema. It’s being presented as a fundraiser for GLEE, Last Stand, and the Tropic.
Directed by Mia Iskander, you will learn about the Egyptian trash industry, where 60,000 Zaballeen (“garbage collectors”) ply their trade. Well ahead of the rapidly globalizing Green Movement, more than 80 percent of the garbage they collect is recycled. But they too face changes that will impact their future.
As Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Academy Award-winner and former Vice-President of the United States, commented: “‘Garbage Dreams’ is a moving story of young men searching for a ways to eke out a living for their families and facing tough choices as they try to do the right thing for the planet. Mai Iskander guides us into a ‘garbage village,’ a place so different from our own, and yet the choices they face there are so hauntingly familiar. Ultimately, ‘Garbage Dreams’ makes a compelling case that modernization does not always equal progress.”
This is a documentary that stands alongside such recent social commentaries as “Food Inc.” and “The Cove.” It’s sure to win more awards. So mark it on today’s calendar and go get trashy at the Tropic.
srhoades@aol.com
[from Solares Hill]
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