The Hidden Life of Trees (2020 | Germany | 85 minutes | Jörg Adolph)
German forester Peter Wohlleben’s 2015 bestselling nonfiction book about trees is adapted for the screen in Jörg Adolph’s new documentary. Wohlleben’s words are brought to life as a camera drifts across his book’s pages in German while a narrator reads them aloud in English, in segments that effectively divide the film up into chapters. We also see Wohlleben giving lectures (sometimes in German, sometimes in English) in classrooms, out in the field, and on stages, and interacting with other forestry experts and conservationists as well as loggers.
Early on, Wohlleben asserts that “in forestry, they like to talk about tending forests. That’s a public relations term. It’s like a butcher saying, ‘I tend to animals.'” As a forester, it’s Wohlleben’s job to study the forests in his care, make sure the trees remain healthy and viable, but it’s ultimately to the end of effective and efficient removal of those trees via logging. He takes great issue with the way tree “plantations” are managed as opposed to naturally growing forests, and would prefer individual trees be cut down one at a time at the direction of someone like himself who’s qualified to tell when each one is ready. He clearly cares a lot and is able to communicate his passion in a broadly appealing way to encourage the spread of his conservationist spirit – but it’s unclear whether anyone involved in the commercial side of the timber industry is taking his words seriously, as old-growth forests continue to grow more and more rare and climate change’s demands become more and more urgent.
Some of Wohlleben’s ideas seem potentially controversial and possibly even unscientific. At one point he presents a somewhat out-there theory with no factual evidence and the disclaimer “I believe…”, and at many points, trees in his telling are anthropomorphized more than feels reasonable. But there’s no contrarian voice in this doc pushing back against his assertions, so all we really get here are his theories, opinions, and scientific findings, all sort of mixed and mushed together. It’s certainly a romantic way to think of the forest, as a set of organisms (or one super-organism, as he says at one point) with thoughts, feelings, and even movements that are just too slow to be perceptible on a human scale but are as conscious as we are. Is that reality? I don’t think this film backs up its assertions enough to be sure that it is, but I’m certainly not sure enough to bet against it that it’s not.
The Hidden Life of Trees played in-person on Oct 3 at SIFF DocFest, but is available virtually now through Thursday, October 7th. Viewing is restricted to audiences in WA State.
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