The Unlikely Things that Move Me

The Man Who Planted Trees. That was truly a masterpiece. The only connection I think it had to the readings was that it was directed by Frederick Bach, who was our “Master of Animation” for that day. His was one of the few films I really liked from the Masters of Animation section. What's strange is, this film contained almost every element that I've complained about. The animation was kind of blurry and weird. The pacing was slow. It was narrated with a lot of “purple prose.” There is literally nothing about the story that I would have expected to find engaging. But once the story got going, I didn't mind any of that. I was just inspired by the way this one man, faithfully doing this one simple task, changed an entire landscape and its surrounding community for the better, and without most people even knowing he was responsible for it. All those things I generally don’t care for seemed to work well in this case. The animation, the pacing, and the narration all worked, even in spite of my narrow tastes. The whole film is kind of like Elezeard Bouffier actually: quiet and simple, yet steadfast and inspirational.

"When I think that one man, one body, and one spirit was enough to turn a desert into the land of Canaan, I find after all that a man's destiny can be truly wonderful. And when I consider the passionate determination, the unfailing generosity of spirit it took to achieve his end, I'm filled with admiration for this old, unlearned peasant who was able to complete a task worthy of God."