User reviews

It's weird how things seem to link together. I had just finished reading two books "Thief at the End of The World" by Joe Jackson and "The Fever Trail" by Mark Honigsbaum. Both these books are about plants, the first about rubber and the second about cinchona. Then along comes "The Fruit Hunters" about fruits. It is an amazing account about unsung heroes that travel the world trying to protect our diversity by selecting unique fruits, bringing them back to North American and trying to splice and grow them.

The movie is an unusual combination of the story of Noris Ledesma, Richard Campbell as they travel around the world in search of exotic fruits. Also mixed in we have historical information about early naturalists in search of exotic species of fruits, beautiful animations of various scenes from early America (Bing cherry scene amazing!!) and China and the current information about fruit research taking place in Honduras with scientist Juan Aguilar. Bill Pullman, a well know Hollywood actor, also makes an appearance as a dedicated naturalist and shows his efforts at sustainability. A wonderful, educational experience. The colours are out of this world.

There are so many hogwash BS films coming out of Hollywood these days tending to people's needs for emotional feel-good spiritual uplifting, in the forms of Terrence Mallick and pseudo intellectualism, god talk, gazing at swirling milk in a cup of coffee as an allusion to the universe. So much bunk.

But this film succeeds where all pseudo-intellectual films fail. In partaking of the multiples beauties of nature and quality of life, in valuing the ecosystems that surround us, that nourish us, that define us. This film is quite beautifully shot, macro cinematography does not make it to the big screen every day and is a real treat. My taste buds and salivary glands were excited during the entire film.

The one failure of the film is having Bill Pullman as a lead character. He fails in two respects. First he admits to suffering from anosmia, a lack of sense of smell. Smell is a major factor in our ability to taste food, and any time he is seen munching into some lovely fruit, he seems to be faking it. Which brings me to his second failure: faking it is a Hollywood leitmotiv, and all his time on screen seemed to just be a Hollywood wannabe real person, he was painful to watch.

Notwithstanding his long screen time, the gorgeous camera work and content and informativeness make this well worth the watch.

This documentary made me a better person. Thankful that I stumbled across it. Would recommend to anyone interested in being alive. A great introduction to the world of fruit, gardening, phytonutrients, and body maintenance/optimization.

Bonus: the camera work is stunning.