Manufactured Landscapes
Encyclopedia
Manufactured Landscapes is a 2006 documentary film
about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky
. It was directed by Jennifer Baichwal and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films
.
based on 15 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes
83% of critics had given the film a "fresh" rating based on 56 reviews (47 fresh, 9 rotten).
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 world's 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 that's 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 Baichwal's 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 Burtynsky's astonishment and concern over the scale, tempo and irreversibility of postmodern humanity's global frenzy of production and consumption", and also that the film "leaves its audience with many troubling questions." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune
praised the opening shot, but said "the rest of director Baichwal's picture feels constrained and rather dutiful, no matter how passionate these people are about what they're observing."
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.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky
Edward Burtynsky OC is a Canadian photographer and artist who has achieved international recognition for his large-format photographs of industrial landscapes. His work is housed in more than fifteen major museums including the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Bibliothèque...
. It was directed by Jennifer Baichwal and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films
Zeitgeist Films
Zeitgeist Films is an American independent film distributor based in New York City founded in 1988 by co-Presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo. Films distributed by Zeitgeist are strongly auteur-driven by directors such as Christopher Nolan, Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan, Todd Haynes, Nuri Bilge...
.
Subject matter
Many of Burtynsky's photographs feature landscapes of areas transformed by human activity.Awards
- Best Documentary – 2007 Genie Awards
- Best Canadian Film – Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film FestivalThe Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
- Best Canadian Film & Best Documentary - Toronto Film Critics Association Awards
- Nominated for Grand Jury Prize - 2007 Sundance Film Festival2007 Sundance Film FestivalThe 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007 in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival...
- Won the Reel Current Award (presented by Al GoreAl GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
) - 2007 Nashville Film FestivalNashville Film FestivalThe Nashville Film Festival , held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2009, Nashville Film Festival received close to 2000 submissions from 86 countries, programmed nearly 260 films and had an attendance...
Critical reception
As of August 19, 2007, the film had an average score of 80% on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
based on 15 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
83% of critics had given the film a "fresh" rating based on 56 reviews (47 fresh, 9 rotten).
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the film an "A" and said "The opening tracking shot through a Chinese factory where 23,000 employees make most of the world's 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 that's visible only at a distance but entwined with the DNA of everything we buy and everywhere we shop." Ken Fox of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
gave the film four stars and said "Jennifer Baichwal's important, disquieting documentary offers the strongest reminder since Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district...
that art can serve a crucial, consciousness raising purpose. Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said "the viewer soon realizes that [Baichwal] shares Burtynsky's astonishment and concern over the scale, tempo and irreversibility of postmodern humanity's global frenzy of production and consumption", and also that the film "leaves its audience with many troubling questions." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
praised the opening shot, but said "the rest of director Baichwal's picture feels constrained and rather dutiful, no matter how passionate these people are about what they're observing."
Ella Taylor of LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
named it the 2nd best film of 2007 (tying with The Host
The Host (film)
The Host is a 2006 South Korean monster film, which also contains elements of comedy and drama films. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun....
), and Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
named it the 8th best film of 2007.