Garbage Dreams

While it seems a bit strange that Cairo—a metropolis of 18 million people—doesn't have a municipal sanitation system, this omission provides an opportunity for the zabbaleen (“garbage people”), who pick up trash, bring it to “garbage villages,” and sort the recyclables, which are then processed for foreign clients, resulting in one of the world's most effective waste-disposal systems, with about 80 percent of materials recycled. Director-cinematographer Mai Iskander focuses on three young men, aged 16-18, among the 60,000 zabbaleen: Nabil, Adham, and Osama. A social worker named Laila makes sure the lads are properly trained and that all the zabbaleen receive vaccinations for tetanus, one of the prime hazards of such a dirty, dangerous occupation. In a rather surprising sequence, Adham and Nabil travel to Wales to learn new methods. The pair appreciate the experience, although, as Nabil notes, “Here there's technology, but no precision,” so that small recoverable items such as shards of glass end up discarded. The impact of globalization becomes apparent when Cairo contracts with multinational disposal companies that encroach upon the zabbaleens' livelihood—firms that are obligated to recycle only 20 percent of the material they collect. The boys do their best to adjust to the change, and Iskander tracks their progress two years later in this fine documentary that explores the effects of global economic trends on people's everyday lives in a major city. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)