Co₂mmon Ground
Joshua Tickell, Rebecca Tickell
2023, 105 mins.
Much food for thought
With daily reports of global warming (“2023 the hottest year ever” etc.), how refreshing it is to have a film that offers a way out and hope—if only the powers that be could smell the coffee and redo legislation (in the U.S. it’s the Farm Bill) and get with the program that Regenerative Agriculture is head, shoulders and hemp above the preponderance of Big Agriculture (fuelled for profit by the likes of Monsanto—who doesn’t care how many people die of cancer from its insecticides and pesticides!).
We soon understand how to put carbon back into the soil and the vital role of nitrogen to keep the crops blooming. Far from the Dust Bowl, if we’d learn from our Indigenous colleagues, many a barren field would be in full bloom now. The notion of diversity of crops and farmers (the Farming While Black movement a case in point) is a lesson that few on the other side of the aisle will ever acknowledge, much less learn.
The key to it all is abandoning tilling (which seems to rape topsoil of its most important roots, instead, covering crops and building vegetive “dikes” around arable land). Do let the beavers of this world do their job (even if accompanied by Wagner) and embrace Woody Harrelson as spokesperson for a better, safer yield ahead.
The film is a kind of SOS for the planet (here meaning Save Our Soil). But do enough of us have the courage to do so and ignore the agriculture lobbyists? Hopefully, the seeds planted in this documentary will firmly take root. JWR
Chasing Chasing Amy
Sav Rodgers
2023, 92 mins.
The joy of chasing and capturing oneself
Full disclosure: thanks to my son’s cinematic tastes, I have been a fan of Kevin Smith’s films since Clerks (1994). Curiously, I never did see Chasing Amy (1997). Who knows why?
In Rodgers’ homage to Smith and Amy (Joey Lauren Adams), the trans man comes out of his shell both sexually and artistically.
Even as much of the world is trying to put the boots to the different amongst (from Uganda to Florida), a viewing of this courageous production—especially by those who brutally inhabit the ignorant class of “rulers”—might well change a few minds if not many hearts. JWR
La Chimera
Alice Rohrwacher
2023, 132 mins.
Grave-robbers most foul (save one)
Ah life! All of us go through it with dreams, hopes, setbacks and loss. Loss is the most difficult, once gone you never get it back.
Ex-con Arthur (Josh O’Connor masterfully binds the production together with his humanity and dedication to the quest) leads the way. Against impossible odds, he searches hopelessly for the long-lost love of his life, Beniamina (Yile Vianello).
He looks high and low, all around his surroundings and below the surface. Armed with only a divining rod (not much more than a twig), he is able to find long-ago buried tombs where he and his band of thieves—tambaroli—steal the finest artifacts then sell them to the mysterious Spartaco (Alba Rohrwacher, a fine mix of greed and stoicism in her portrayal), hoping for the discovery of a truly magnificent gem will keep them in cash forever.
After one such, literally, statuesque masterpiece is found, her blank-eyed head is knocked off and held onto by Arthur. Perhaps this bust will fetch an even greater price, but most certainly triggers a dream that will, at least, give the distraught diviner a few fleeting moments with his chimera. We should all do so well.
Director Alice Rohrwacher (along with co-writers Carmela Covino and Marco Pettenelo) fill the screen and our imaginations with a healthy dose of inner rewards to self, even when searching in vain for our most precious possession. JWR