Manufactured Landscapes

Manufactured Landscapes is a 2006 featurelength documentary film about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky. It was directed by Jennifer Baichwal and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films.

Jennifer Baichwal elaborated on the films minimal commentary and its connection to the films overall message in a QampA with Film Forum, noting that ...if the film was didactic it would imply an easy answer . . . With this statement, the film does not propose a concrete solution to human environmental impact, but rather asks the viewer to consider the many contributing factors.Since its debut at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006, the film has received generally positive reviews. Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A and said The opening tracking shot through a Chinese factory where 23,000 employees make most of the worlds irons is a stunner. The review that appeared in the Boston Globe said the film begs to be hung on the wall, studied, absorbed, and learned from and also taken as a whole, Manufactured Landscapes is a mesmerizing work of visual oncology, a witness to a cancer thats visible only at a distance but entwined with the DNA of everything we buy and everywhere we shop. Ken Fox of TV Guide gave the film four stars and said, Jennifer Baichwals important, disquieting documentary offers the strongest reminder since Born into Brothels that art can serve a crucial, consciousness raising purpose. Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle said the viewer soon realizes that Baichwal shares Burtynskys astonishment and concern over the scale, tempo and irreversibility of postmodern humanitys global frenzy of production and consumption, and also that the film leaves its audience with many troubling questions. Ella Taylor of LA Weekly named it the 2nd best film of 2007 tying with The Host, and Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal named it the 8th best film of 2007. ........

Source: Wikipedia