Don’t let the fact that Landfill Harmonic, co-directed by Brad Allgood and co-Juliana Penaranda-Loftus, is part TED-talk presentation brought to life, and part every “uplift impoverished third-world youth” documentary ever filmed. It’s a moving, inspiring film, one whose thematic subject – the overcoming of structural obstacles and the triumph of the human spirit – is rooted in issues of poverty, global inequity, and old-school inspiration.
Asunción is the capital of Paraguay, and the slum Cateura is located on its outskirts, right up against a massive landfill into which three million pounds of solid waste are dumped daily. Distilled from that waste by sharp-eyed scavengers are the materials (oil drums cooking utensils, discarded X-Ray film) that will be transformed into music instruments for The Recycled Orchestra, founded the years ago by Favio Chavez, originally trained as an environmental engineer. The orchestra quickly grew beyond Chavez’s dreams, leading all the donated instruments to be taken and leaving many kids still in need of in need of one. That led him to ask local carpenter Nicolas Gomez to try making instruments from recycled refuse. Fast forward a decade, and the acclaimed orchestra has transcended the accidental/by necessity gimmick of the origins of their instruments to perform alongside the likes of Megadeth (huge, vocal fans of the collective), Stevie Wonder, and Metallica.
Allgood and Penaranda-Loftus know that this is a story that in many ways tells itself, and they get out of the way. Shots of the garbage strewn streets where the kids live are juxtaposed with footage of them at rehearsal; interviews with the kids (charming, smart, and insightful) are placed against footage of them in concert. And Megadeth put in an appearance. Crisply shot, and sharply edited, the film moves quickly but not at the expense of filling in information and massaging tear ducts in a way that is knowing but not overly manipulative.
Landfill Harmonic opened last week in New York and opens this weekend in Los Angeles.
