A haunting documentary in the tradition of the Qatsi Trilogy (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaaqatsi and Naqoyqatsi). The film follows Burtynsky as he photographs the overwhelming scale and environmental degradation of our global civilization at various industrial and urban locations in China and South Asia.
In aesthetic theory the sublime describes something that is literally terrifying - as in evoking terror or awe-spiring feelings of being overwhelmed by a force that we cannot control. Something that is sublime ultimately demands submission from the individual. It makes us feel small and insignificant. And yet, by its presence, or by our witnessing its presence, we may derive pleasure in our humility. Traditionally qualities of the sublime have been used to describe the overwhelming scale of nature - the open ocean, mountain peaks, desert wastelands, etc. Some might concieve of God as sublime. Edmund Burke believed that the sublime evokes more powerful emotions than what we consider beautiful because, ultimately, we respect what we must submit to more than what submits to us. Beauty may provoke feelings of love, comfort and pleasure, but it does not inspire us with the same force that the sublime does. Cars, jewelry, fashion and the female body are beautiful. Natural landscapes, and now manufactured landscapes, are sublime.
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