Taming the Garden

As Environmental Documentaries go, there are must have templates to push the narrative structure. We have Salomé Jashi's Taming the Garden (2021) which shuns the conventions of the ecological doc: devoid of genre stereotypes, no political rallies to record the events, protests, opposition from media or altercation with the government body. I have seen the viral video of trees floating on a barge along the Black Sea coast few years back, i knew the backstory and what was coming in the documentary about this filthy Rich politician doing his Fitzcarraldo act. It took me by surprise as the documentary doesn't take the route of examining/exposing Georgian Politician Bidzina Ivanishvili with tree fetish.

Jashi opts to patiently capture the breath-taking process of dendrological disaster right from felling of giant tress, transporting it and replanting it in the arboretum of the tycoon. There are locals who help with the whole cutting, transportation of trees while the elderly stand helpless and the young capturing it in their mobile. We get long stretches of the process, unending sound the biosphere, bulldozers, the sea confined mostly to minimalistic score. Some of the locals get to express their thoughts but Salomé Jashi's doesn't spend too much time here. It doesn't feel the need for a narrative as many thigs are said along this trajectory journey. For example, the ending farewell of the giant tree, we can sense the atmosphere but it doesn't have huge lines with outbursts, but it's very sad. It is followed by a mind-blowing wide shot of the tree on the barge across the Black Sea. It reminded me of Theo Angelopoulos Ulysses' Gaze (1995) which has an amazing scene of an enormous statue of Vladimr Lenin on a tugboat floating across the sea. In the closing, the camera shows us the garden, it looks artificial with the uprooted trees as the water sprinklers is activated with classical chants as background score.

Overall, i want to recommend this only to the audience who love slow cinema as the film doesn't take any sides and you may feel helpless just like the spectators in documentary. There are many layers of complexity and it's amazing Jashi's expresses a lot while saying so little.

In this case we have trees! They are core to ones family history and beautiful garden accessory for others. In this tale of true story taking place in the country of Georgia, film takes us through the journey of migration of trees with instantly complex operations involving local workers and sea transportation. Sad impact left behind showing diverse regions and opinions on the matter of forceful migration due to rich and powerful's decision. Music is stunning, scenery and photography is outstanding. True art documentary that is not for people with attention deficit disorder.

If you are bored within the first 5 minutes, here's a heads up: That does not change!

The pure operation of excavating and transporting these giant trees is incredible. But that part is only about 10 minutes in total.

The rest are loooong shots at people sitting and chatting with eachother or even just landscapes.

I ended up fast forwarding most of it to get to the interesting part.

Interesting core, but a total yawnfest around it.

I collect records. My wife collects perfume. People collect all kinds of things don't they. The former Prime Minister of The Republic of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, collects trees. Not planting them. Although that is the end result. No, digging them up from the coast where they've grown in some cases very tall and transporting them to his private garden. He's not doing this himself of course. There's a team, with chainsaws, JCBs and barges. They don't talk. At least not to the camera. Amongst themselves, about repairing equipment, their health, random stories, the beauty of the trees... and musings on why their employer wants them. We don't meet the former PM and there's not really any explanation. Parts of this are a bit like the SlowTV films. It's relaxing viewing. Long locked off shots of men working, machinery moving, it's patient, skilled, labour intensive work. There's real care taken to capture this. Not just in the filming, which is exquisite, but in the sound design too. Much of it is in camera, but it's still as carefully composed as the frame. Bold. Ambitious. Ridiculous and oddly fascinating. It's a marvel to see the lengths undertaken to achieve the goal. As the trees are removed, roads are built. This for the most part is welcomed by the locals, who muse in their homes as to why he's doing it, but thankful he is. Not everyone is happy though and it's perhaps easy to see this a metaphor for those with money and those without. Bidzina Ivanishvili is worth a reported $4.8 billion and some see this a merely a rich bloke playing god. Apparently he also collects exotic animals, although that's not covered here. Well aside some swans and flamingos seen in the garden. What starts out as something purely interesting from a visual perspective, gains ground as more local voices are introduced, be them thankful or resentful. There's much more to dig into here than whats on the surface, mere folly. What beautifully folly though.