Film Review: Garbage Dreams

Title:               Garbage Dreams
Director:               Mai Iskander
Producer:             Tiffany Schauer (Exec), Mai Iskander, Kate Hirson (Co)
Editor:                   Kate Hirson, Jessica Reynolds
Music:                    Raz Mesinai
Sound:                   Dow McKeever, Marsha Moore
Year:                      2009 (83 minutes)

Synopsis : “If there weren’t any garbage collectors, Cairo wouldn’t be clean,” says a teenager named Adham at the opening of Garbage Dreams. He is one of 60,000 Zaballeen, entrepreneurial garbage collectors who collect and recycle over one-third of Cairo’s waste – more than 3,000 tons a day. But the Zaballeen find themselves at a crossroads when their city’s government hires foreign multinational disposal companies to collect Cairo’s garbage. Mai Iskander’s Garbage Dreams follows the Zaballeen’s novel efforts to evolve their trade as Egypt modernizes its garbage disposal system, accompanying three young men on their journey into the modern world – where change is inevitable and necessary.

Review: Garbage Dreams is both sad and hopeful. The Zaballeen are among Egypt’s poorest people. They survive by collecting garbage in their Cairo neighborhood. But their lifestyle and livelihood is being threatened by commercial garbage collectors.

The Zaballeen aren’t just garbage collectors. They are garbage recyclers, recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. As a comparison, the best recycling models in the Western world recycle only 30% of their garbage. The commercial garbage collectors hired in Egypt are only required to recycle 20% of the garbage they collect.

At the beginning of the film, I was depressed. The scenes of children playing in garbage were disturbing. But as the film progressed, I began to understand who the Zaballeen are and what they are doing with the garbage. I never felt great about the kids playing in the garbage, but at least I understood it.

Garbage Dreams in unflinching in its portrayal of the lives of the Zaballeen. Director Mai Iskander did a terrific job of telling the story and framing the problems without sugar-coating it or turning anyone into the bad guy. She also did a terrific job of putting a human face on the problem. Garbage Dreams isn’t just about garbage. It’s about people and their relationship and dependence on the garbage.

My favorite part of the movie was when Iskander’s cameras followed two teenage Zaballeen, Adham and Nabil, to Wales as they observed the technology used to recycle in a Western country. Adham is both excited and livid. The technology makes it possible to recycle so much more than the Zaballeen can by hand, yet so much still goes to waste. Adham remarks, “Here there is technology, but no precision.”

Garbage Dreams is a terrific film. It has won several awards, including the Al Gore Reel Current Award at the Nashville Film Festival and the Best Green Film at the Connecticut Film Festival. But even more than just a “green” film, Garbage Dreams is a good film.

(3.5 out of 5.0)