Matter Out of Place

The “matter out of place” portrayed in the film is the combination of all those objects that can be found in an ecosystem to which they do not belong: trash piling up on shores; waste found in the depths of the ocean or of the earth, from the peaks of Switzerland to the coasts of Greece or Albania; a waste-to-energy plant in Austria; the desert of Nevada. These are all images of settings polluted by piles of waste materials, which are caught on camera. All the efforts of the people who try to free the earth from this burden seem to be in vain. The huge mass of waste keeps growing, like an awful, modern-day version of the Myth of Sisyphus, the symbol of any vain repetitive task, which is destined to be nullified as soon as you complete it.