Review: Wim Wenders' Remarkably Insightful Documentary 'The Salt Of The Earth'

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Telluride Film Festival.

25 years ago, director Wim Wenders’ discovered the haunting black-and-white artwork of celebrated Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado. Now a 70-year-old man who has traveled to nearly every corner of the Earth for more than 40 years, Salgado has documented some of the most tragic and catastrophic events in recent history: revolutions and international conflicts, genocide in Rwanda, wars in Yugoslavia, starvation in Ethiopia, the Saddam Hussein-devastated Kuwaiti oilfields, mass exoduses around the globe, and more. So taken with Salgado's iconic photos — striking works often bearing witness to the poor, the suffering, and neglected members of society — Wenders bought two prints and promptly framed them above his office desk where they remain to this day.

But the more Salgado’s ghostly photos preoccupied Wenders’ heart and psyche (this photo in particular), the more the venerable German filmmaker...