Manufactured Landscapes Review

Edward Burtynsky photographs the impact humanity has made on the landscape. He claims to have no agenda and simply wants people to witness the terrible beauty of industrialisation and draw their own conclusion whether their consumer goods are worth this much ecological damage. However, as she proves in the stunning opening tracking shot, documentarist Jennifer Baichwal isn’t quite so passive. Yet there are moments when Burtynsky and Baichwal indulge in eco porn, as they capture soulless workplaces across China with a dismayed wonder that contrasts starkly with the celebratory montages of the Constructivists of Soviet Russia.