加拿大摄影师Edward Burtynsky踏足那些被称为“世界工厂”的发展中国家，在他的镜头下，有如工蚁般辛勤工作的福建某工厂流水线的工人、有来自世界各地在江浙某村堆积如山的电子垃圾、有位于孟加拉仿佛堆满死尸一般的拆船厂、有如同黑云滚滚遮天蔽日的天津塘沽港煤矿基地、也有宏伟壮丽仿佛造福千秋万代的三峡大坝工程。在经济大潮的冲击下，人类以环境为代价，追逐着眼前那微乎其微的利益，却不知早已将环境和自己的命运逼向末途…… 本片荣获2007年加拿大金尼奖最佳纪录片奖、2007年河水潺潺（RiverRun）国际影展最佳纪录片奖、2006年多伦多影评人协会最佳加拿大影片和最佳纪录片奖。Jennifer Baichwal's cameras follow Edward Burtynsky (1955- ) as he visits what he calls manufactured landscapes: slag heaps, e-waste dumps, huge factories in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces of China, and a place in Bangladesh where ships are taken apart for recycling. In China, workers gather outside the factory, exhorted by their team leader to produce more and make fewer errors. A woman assembles a circuit breaker, and women and children are seen picking through debris or playing in it. Burtynsky concludes with a visit to Shanghai, the world's fastest growing city, where wealth and poverty, high-rises and old neighborhoods are side by side.
