Once Upon a Forest

The botanist Francis Hallé has given his life to tropical forests, and in this film he takes the viewer into his own field of work: the Manú forest in Peru, and Gabon. The account starts with a seed and follows the growth of giant trees across seven centuries. A forest has a time of its own, and the film compresses that time down to a speed a person can watch. Luc Jacquet, known for March of the Penguins, directs, placing Hallé's narration between the images. Beauty is not the only aim; Jacquet is saying how little primary forest is left and that once it is cut it does not come back. Even so the film tries to convince through time spent under the trees rather than through the language of warning. The images are at their most striking in the passages shot up in the canopy.