Marina of the Zabbaleen

Egyptian-born filmmaker Engi Wassef spends time with the peasants who collect Cairo's garbage (the city has no trash collection system), focusing in particular on a girl named Marina. One of four children, Marina lives in the Muqqattam recycling village, home to 30,000 zabbaleen or “garbage people,” who are 90 percent Christian, although Cairo is 85 percent Muslim. In the villages, the zabbaleen sort through the city's refuse to remove recyclables—such as cans, paper, and plastic—to achieve a recycling rate of more than 85 percent, considerably better than the U.S. claim of 33 percent. The documentary explores the changes that occur when new technology in the form of mechanical compression causes the recycling rate to plummet, and—perhaps more significant—the zabbaleens' livelihood to be threatened by the arrival of multinational trash-hauling companies. As the only one among her brothers and sisters to attend school, Marina may have a better chance at a decent future, but the film presents a bleak portrayal of her family's contemporary life, as they struggle with rats, a water shortage, and a possible eviction. Wassef adopts a fly-on-the-wall approach as she follows Marina and her parents and siblings through various activities, including an unpleasant dental procedure that must be performed without anesthesia due to lack of funds. Offering an eye-opening look at a vanishing way of life, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)