The words cut into the recycled waste rubber stamp perfectly encapsulate the Malagasy population’s relationship with production and consumption (though not necessarily in that order): Made in Madagascar avec presque rien (with almost nothing). There may be a financial crisis raging, but that’s not about to dampen spirits in Madagascar, because there are more important matters than economic growth. So while one person uses the meticulous skill of a craftsman to cut a stamp from a chunk of rubber from a landfill, others make sandals from old elastic bands, or musical instruments from brushwood and tin cans. And discarded cycle parts, used spray cans, jam jars, light bulbs and leftover soap likewise get a second life. As a craftsman pithily sums up the global approach to recycling, “It’s the Chinese who produce everything, and we, the Malagasy, fix everything.” With a gentle gaze, Ady Gasy, the Malagasy Way observes daily life in Madagascar, which is obviously not home to the winners of the globalization lottery. The local people make the best of it though. They’ve preserved their own unique character and unbowed sense of humor, but they haven’t forgotten how to complain, because chaos and corruption are rife among the ruling class. The unhurried observational shots are punctuated by proverb texts that reflect the Malagasy outlook on life: “Envisage the worst, so that the best happens.”
