For four decades, Sebastião Salgado photographed humanity at its most noble and most brutal. His stark black-and-white images are among the most recognizable ever made.
My colleague Rob Kelly currently ranks it the #1 documentary about photographers.
Trailer for “The Salt of the Earth”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Salgado spent decades documenting famine, war, forced migration, and brutal labor across more than 100 countries. Eventually, the suffering he witnessed became so overwhelming that he said he lost faith in humanity and could no longer continue photographing conflict.
- His photos of Brazil’s Serra Pelada gold mine show ~50,000 miners climbing hand-dug ladders through a gigantic muddy crater carrying sacks of dirt on their backs. The scene looks like something from ancient Egypt or a Hollywood movie, but every image is real.
Watch “The Salt of the Earth”
You can currently watch “The Salt of the Earth” free on YouTube or rent/buy it through Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango. You can check the latest streaming options at JustWatch.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 93/100
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 94/100 (Users); 90/100 (Critics)
Release Date: October 15, 2014 (France); later released internationally in 2015.
Director’s Note: Directed by Wim Wenders alongside Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Sebastião Salgado’s son.
Other Unique Stuff
- His wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado, helped with his books, exhibitions, and the launch of the Instituto Terra reforestation project. It restored millions of trees and brought hundreds of species of birds, mammals, and plants back to land that had been nearly lifeless.
- This doc got an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. It also won international documentary awards.
Wrap Up:
“The Salt of the Earth” changes how you look at photography. I came away amazed by Salgado’s images and the emotional price he paid to capture them.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc