Trees, and Other Entanglements

I would not be normally drawn to a documentary about trees. In this case, what caught my attention was the fact that the director was Irene Taylor, who recently released the excellent documentary on Celine Dion. I was not disappointed. In this film, different stories intertwine in unexpected ways, very much like the branches Irene and her son clear from an old tree at the beginning of the movie. The lush cinematography doesn't hurt either.

Today I was watching my grandchildren play at the park and my wife called my attention to a gorgeous tree behind the playground. I wonder if she would have noticed before we watched this film. I can say that I certainly looked at the tree with new eyes, more full of wonder. This alone tells me this documentary was worth watching.

This movie is really about how trees are "useful" to people, as well as a hagiography to Weyerhauser. Far from being inspired by "The Overstory", it is almost devoid of either the science of trees, or the feelings people have as the great forests are being destroyed. Sure, lots of shots of miles of felled trees, but then we learn that hey, Weyerhauser has planted 2 billion trees. We even meet the ex-hippies that planted alot of them. What we don't learn is that by planting them as mono-crops, they are destroying what was once a diverse ecosystem, and merely delaying the inevitable environmental collapse and the soil gets depleted.

There is no spirit of investigation, of challenging power (so central to "The Overstory"), and for a film set in the Pacific Northwest, not a word about Native Americans!

A trip on shrooms during the daytime, had me seeing trees in a whole different light, so I was super excited to see a documentary on trees.. 30 minutes in i had to check out reviews because maybe I was tripping.. I wasn't.. As soon as it starts to touch on something interesting, it switches to a totally different story.. I think this would've worked better as a series, to be almost 30 minutes in and haven't even started to dive into at least one story is wild. I was very engaged during during the G. H Weyerhaeuser story that began, then boom, NOTHING..I'm not interested in no documentary milking it's stories on top of being all over the place. I gave it a try at least.

This documentary explores some of the many ways humans interact with trees, and how trees hold our stories. From logging, planting, and photographing trees to the art form of bonsai trees and the people who create them, in collaboration with nature. I know this will encourage me to take a closer look at the trees around me, and a greater appreciation of how powerful and persistent they are. The way the stories are interwoven is very artful, and they overlap in interesting way, most coming to a satisfying stopping point, others leaving the viewer with concerns and/or questions to pursue. This film is also simply beautiful, with some of the most striking scenery I've ever seen. Very memorable. Perfect title, too.

I really enjoyed the short burst we had about the trees. Every now and then we would get 5 mins of knowledge about trees and interesting facts about them. Then we would get straight back in to these peoples mundane stories about there lives.

I came in To this Documentary expecting to see how the tree works,lives,dies,communicates but unfortunately this Documentary was far from that and was more like a home video for the families of the people who was involved in the show.

In summary if your coming for the trees start running if you've come for the people stay. Not enough actually happend in this show at all.