Next time you poke your head out the window and think your neighborhood is a dump, consider the Lopez family, who have in their backyard Central America’s largest garbage lot. Javier and Blanca are the parents of seven children, all of whom scrounge the giant dumping ground in search of provisions. It’s an alternate universe of outrageous proportion: while most mothers warn children of the perils of choking on a fish bone, the wayward Blanca cautions her shoeless charge not to step on the fishes’ trashed remains. For the children, it’s a giant playland, where plastic bags double as turbans and liter bottles filled with marbles pass for rattles. Beneath it all, Javier bemoans a life lived like an animal on the streets. Documentarian Michael Dominic followed the family for seven years. Don’t look for any solutions. By his own admission, Dominic has none to offer, and instead chooses to “leave it to the audience to form their own opinions.” (2019)
This movie is not currently in theaters.