Title: Heart and Soil
Director: Mara LeGrand
Producer: Mara LeGrand
Screenwriter: Mara LeGrand
Editor: Christopher Wright, Mara LeGrand
Year: 2007 (45 minutes)
Synopsis: Heart and Soil is a family documentary leading us on a journey into the rich landscape and lives of farmers in the southwest. The story weaves between the bustling energy of the Farmers Market and farm-to-school programs, into the land where farmers speak about topics such as seeds, soil, weather, water, nutrition, and livestock philosophy, as well as the costs and risks of farming on a small scale in a market that is becoming increasingly corporate. We learn from Native Peoples about the first farmers on this land and how communities and families are strengthened through a connection with agriculture. Water specialists remind us of the inter-relationship between ecological principles and responsibility in agriculture and how our need for food is dependent upon water. Restaurant owners and nutritionists recommend that we not leave being fed in the hands of corporations and rely upon fossil fuels for its production, packaging, and transport. The answer to long-term sustainability lie in nature, and reconnecting with local food sources is one good way toward better health for ourselves and our planet. The farmers are inspiration for us all to dig in more, grow our own, or support those who do, to the benefit of our lives and our planet.
Review: In a sense, Heart and Soil is a propaganda film. The director, Mara LeGrand, set out to make a film to promote sustainable agriculture. I’m all for sustainable agriculture, but I’m opposed to propaganda. Even so, LeGrand crafted her film in such a way that I found myself enjoying it. I knew from the start that LeGrand had an agenda, but she didn’t force her agenda upon the audience. Instead, she told the story of farmers in the southwest who are using sustainable agricultural practices to produce food, earn a living, and heal the land. What’s not to like about that?
I was afraid that Heart and Soil might veer off course and start to bash corporate farming. However, she never did. She just stuck to her story – the story of the farmers – and let her viewers decide for themselves how they feel about sustainable agriculture.
(3 out of 5)
Film Website: http://www.heartandsoilfilm.com/
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I’ve always said I wouldn’t make a propaganda film, unless someone paid me to do so. Of course, HEART & SOIL, was an unpaid work of love. I wanted to mention that HEART & SOIL seems to cross barriers of political and religious view points, as it’s popular down south with Baptist groups. It’s been shown at Unitarian – ethical eating study groups, Buddhist groups focused on compassion for all of life and now it’s being selected for an international conference of Inter-faith groups, studying sustainability. In addition, of course the film is popular with those involved with the local food movement and people promoting healthier communities and farm to school programs. I even heard back from the owner of a packaged food corporation, who commented that they found it “tasty”.
I’m glad Lou thinks I stuck to my story rather than propagandizing, because the film actually started out as a 10 min. TV piece about my local farmer’s market. As I kept going deeper into the roots of the farmer’s lives, it grew as it took on a life of it’s own. I worked hard to serve the story and not even add narration – so as not to be offensive or ram ideology down anyone’s throat. Even the film’s name developed because of what the characters voluntarily offered, without prompting from me. The characters in the film were so pure and non egocentric in their offering, I can’t imagine propaganda is a word any of them know.
Additionally, I’ve been a vegetarian most of my life, yet the film has a strong emphasis on animal husbandry. Because raising animals for meat is a way of life for most of the world, I felt the most important contribution local farmers make, is giving their animals a good life, and a fearless, quick death, so I braved that subject, even though it wasn’t my preference. At a screening in Boulder a man in the audience commented that we didn’t need meat to get all the protein we need, so why kill animals when we could get it from vegetables and grains. I told him that was a different film subject, that he and I could consider making, but it wasn’t what this film became. In New York, a professor from Columbia was undone to see deer ( actually Elk ) in a film about agriculture. “We can legally shoot those varmits, if they get in our garden,” she said. I reminded her that the Voice Over footage of Elk jumping the fence, was about the direct correlation of bio-diversity on the health and sustainability of the eco-system.
As a story teller, and documentarian the first thing I need is a subject, then a theme and a particular twist develops. I begin with objectivity and innocence, consequently I’m seeing like an unbiased audience might. Then as I develop insight I begin to weave threads of the story together. I don’t see film making as unbiased news reporting ( if that even exists anymore) I see it as an opportunity to appeal to a broad audience and to educate, entertain and inspire in an honest, non dogmatic way.
I’m glad Lou enjoyed HEART & SOIL — after all. It’s been on a roll from coast to coast that has exceeded what I imagined for my first do it all yourself film. Now, how about a Hershey bar or some Lays potato chips dipped in a garden fresh herb chevre?