Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Salt of the Earth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 6, 2015

Anyone can create art, at least "art" in the crudest definition of the term. Anyone can put pen to paper or ink to canvas, pound on the piano, or put eye to viewfinder and click the shutter button. But it takes an artist, someone blessed with the gift, to create something more than that, something that turns a head, catches an eye, speaks to the heart, moves the soul, something that tells a story, defines an emotion, excites the senses, recreates life. Fine art -- in this case fine photography -- isn't simply about capturing a moment, it's about emotional investment in the subject, depicting the deeper meaning behind the subject, and depicting through a single image a much broader array of content than the moment of time seems to imply. Acclaimed Photographer Sebastião Salgado has that gift, and he, and his photos, are the subject of the wonderful Documentary The Salt of the Earth, a moving -- in more ways than one -- portrait of his still images, a retrospective on a fascinating life and the pictures to which he dedicated his life, pictures which show with great beauty, and sometimes terrible agony, the world as it is truly is and can truly be.

The photographer.

The film follows, and tells the story of, Brazilian Photographer Sebastião Salgado, recalling his early life and young adulthood in which he gave up a promising and lucrative career in economics to, with the support of his wife Lélia, pursue his passion for photography. As the film follows him on several shoots with the Documentary crew -- including his son and Co-Director Juliano Ribeiro Salgado -- at his side, it looks back over his career as a world-renowned photographer, examining in detail the periods of his work, the stories of the subjects he photographed, and the effect the work had on his life.

This is a wondrous film. It is, in many ways, a moving art gallery over which Salgado shares the stories of his career, stories that don't simply define a linear journey from one subject or place of interest to the next but expose a much deeper, far more intimate, and in many ways contrastingly joyous and heartbreaking saga of first-hand witness to the best and worst the world has to offer. Salgado's photographs capture the very essence of humanity in ways which many people cannot even begin to imagine. The photographs are much more than the sum of their subjects, greater than the grandeur of their composition, more meaningful than the mastery of the craft that's evident in each one of them. The pictures show not only what he has seen and what his camera has captured but reveal, with striking clarity and intimate detail and nuance, the greater human condition -- including man's destructive power and his suffering -- and the beauty of the world in which he lives and the joys he is capable of experiencing. But it's that negative side of humanity that so many of his photographs have depicted -- the senseless of suffering, the wrath of war -- that made him famous but at the same time forced him to face the realities of both what he does and the world in which he lives. This story is far deeper and more satisfying than most any fictional film; the sense of reality, of humanity, of the world is strikingly easy to see but amazingly complex to grasp. The film is a testament to the artist and a showcase for his work, but it is itself also a beautiful work of art, a fine representation of the power of film to tell a story.

Indeed, the film is nearly as impressive as Salgado's work. Directed, in part, by his son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, The Salt of the Earth finds much the same spirit of the photographs by way of its mastery of capturing the beauty of its subjects, as well as a deeper core, with an exactness and precision reserved for the finest films. The picture is photographed with a steady precision. It's not flashy, it's not wild. It's organic but effortless, to-the-point but framed to capture an essence of its subject that's not point-and-shoot but rather intensely meaningful in composition. It is, in many ways, the closest the film medium can come to replicating the single-frame photographic medium in terms of favoring that same core essence while still presenting in motion. Much of the film is photographed in black and white, blending with the photographer's preferred palette but also enhancing the sense of intimate reality that color -- which emphasizes superficial reality -- cannot always duplicate. The black and white photography both of this film and in Salgado's photographs seems to wipe away any preconceived notions about the subject, filtering to the eye and the mind only the intimate details -- the soulful depth and finer meaning -- rather than the needless things around it. The film does venture into color photography at times as it follows Salgado through some of the journeys captured for the film. It shows, in a very subtle but at the same time very clear way, how his photographs find that intimacy that sets them apart from others.

The Salt of the Earth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Salt of the Earth's 1080p presentation is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, with the former dominating the latter but the latter making a pronounced appearance at certain junctures. At its best, in its black-and-white interview footage with Sebastião Salgado, the image finds intense crispness and boundless definition that are a pleasure to behold. The grayscale is intricate and black levels are beautifully deep. The many still photographs the film displays are likewise sharp and effortless, presenting every little detail of faces, clothes, and terrain evident in them with an exactness one would expect to find if analyzing copies in real life. The film features some lower grade color footage that, at its best, reveals solid detailing and good colors, particularly evident on natural greens. However, various shots demonstrate a number of problems including aliasing, edge halos, banding, blocking, and black crush. None of these are seen in excess but they do interfere with a number of shots. Fortunately, their appearances are limited to certain shots and, while obvious and bothersome, aren't totally destructive to the image.

The Salt of the Earth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Salt of the Earth's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack handles the film's mostly limited presentation very well. Music, whether lighter, airy notes or somewhat deeper, more potently aggressive notes are presented with rich definition and seamless spacing, including a natural surround support structure. Photos are sometimes overlaid with light picture-specific sound effects, such as distinctive background effects in the early mining shots. Live action footage is met with fine basic ambient effects, including birds and insects, blowing wind, and rustling grasses. Dialogue is the key component here, however, and both voiceover narration and direct speech are presented with fine natural definition and front-center placement.

The Salt of the Earth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Salt of the Earth contains a commentary, a featurette, and deleted scenes. Inside the Blu-ray case, buyers will find a DVD copy of the film.

• Audio Commentary: Wim Wenders & Julian Ribeiro Salgado share a fascinating commentary that begins with Wenders' early meetings with Salgado, the photographer's career both broadly and intimately, building a movie with a narrative rather than as a glorified slideshow, tales of photographic journeys, the time Julian spent with his father on the shoot, the film's soundtrack, shooting locations, Sebastião Salgado's personal history, and much more. This is a fine supplement to a beautiful film; audiences owe it to themselves to make this commentary a must-listen addition to the film.
• Looking Back with Wim Wenders & Julian Ribeiro Salgado (1080p, 11:33): A brief overview of the filmmaking process, including the shoot, editing, dueling cuts, their work together on a single version, narration composition, and more.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p): Instituto Terra (10:05), The Mines -- Bolivia 1978 (3:51), Yali People -- West Papua Highlands 2011 (4:58), Victoria 2013 (5:16), Rodrigo (3:16), Papu's Song (2:50), Cambodia 1990 (4:06), Dried Lake -- Mali 1985 (3:13), Black/White Aimores 2012 (1:42), and Film Reels Mexico 1980 (1:45).
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:58).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

The Salt of the Earth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Salt of the Earth is an intensely riveting film, a portrait of humanity as seen in the portrait of a man. It's remarkably well done, bringing together crude Documentary bits but at the same time opening up an entire world into what it means to not simply show the world, but to find the world, to uncover that deeply hidden essence in a single instant and tell a much larger story in a snapshot than most can produce in a hefty tome or a lengthy film. The Salt of the Earth will challenge what the audience knows about the world, the art of photography, and the cinematic medium. It will inspire people to do better by themselves, their neighbors, and the world around them. It might even inspire some to pick up a camera and find their own voice in the still images of the corner of the universe they call their own, or beyond. Sony's Blu-ray release of The Salt of the Earth features good video, strong audio, and a fair assortment of extras. Very highly recommended.