New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
Beautifully shot but overly spare documentary.
Brazil · 2000
1h 4m
Director Nigel Noble
Starring
Genre Documentary
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This deeply human documentary examines the subject of environmental destruction, highlighting the impoverished migrant workers who are chopping down the Amazon rainforest to create charcoal for pig iron production used primarily in the automobile industry. The film examines the children and elders and their daily lives and work as they burn timber in igloo-looking huts, their bodies charred gray for $2 a day, struggling to survive.
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New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
Beautifully shot but overly spare documentary.
The film is a dispiriting experience.
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Even at 70 minutes, The Charcoal People becomes repetitive and hopeless.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Bluntly downbeat.
Raises an interesting question. Do you clamp down on corporations in order to protect the environment or do you let them go about their business because they help feed countless families.