Đồng nát translates to “junk; broken materials,” but it is also a term used in northern Vietnam to describe the recycling workforce, 90% of whom are elderly women, that operate in a nation that produces 68,000 tons of solid waste every day.
The short film, Mud Below, Sun Above, opens with this information displayed across moody scenes of gray, dilapidated Hanoi. It then quickly moves beyond impersonal statistics to the individual experiences of scrap collection via Bể, a 64-year-old woman who earns a living moving door to door to collect recyclables.
Viewers are given the mundane details of her trade, including the arduous effort of scraping labels from liquor bottles, alongside her reflections on changes in society as understood via trash materials produced. The intimate look at a difficult but dignified life provides essential human elements to truths of commerce, production and lifestyles that are all too frequently framed via cold statistics.
Mud Below, Sun Above comes from Hanoi-based Dutch filmmaker Kate Villevoye, who Saigoneers may remember from her previous work, Mr. Cường's Banyan Tree. After a successful run at several international film festivals, her latest work is being hosted by Aeon Video.
While the movie doesn’t directly pose questions, let alone answers, it humanizes an important issue and should inspire viewers to understand their surroundings and their impacts upon them with greater respect and appreciation.
Watch the video in full below:
Video via Aeon.
Top image via Kate Villevoye's website.
