I find such more to say of The Man Who Planted Trees (1987), than that which was of the man who planted.
This post is about the short film The Man Who Planted Trees.
A Task Worthy of God
The Unfailing Generosity of Spirit and Dreams
Of whom sets out to adventure the far reaches of the seeing eye? How many may say this of their passage? To rather find yourself in a wasteland desolate, beyond description. What is there to grow among terrain bleak and monotonous?
The Every Present Wind
Take camp in what there is to refuge. The ruin of passed things lay beside the ruin of village, all to that as vanished. Skeletons of houses sing as much of death as the beast, feeding on its prey.
“Everywhere I came across the same drought, the same coarse weeds.”
For one to wander is of no great fill; the greatest find of all, a shepherd. Dwellings of well stay are far and few between. Find the man of meticulous care who makes the mend of being invisible. Why then chose not to smoke?
Regions are inhabitants of burn, ambitioned harsh of isolation, bringing about bitterness and no relief. Even the most stable characters crack under the constant grind.
Find rivals in virtue, rivals in vice. The battles of vice and virtue rage incessantly. And always there was the mind…
“…the everpresent wind constantly grating on the nerves. There were epidemics of suicide and many cases of madness nearly always ending in murder”
The Shepard Who Does Not Smoke
What is man to say of that which is of theirs to sort? Few are to claim their work. The release of care to fields worth grazing, lay there seeds for trees to grow. Many of the unpredictable things, only providence may account for, though see that before there was nothing, brings wonder to our sense of time.
Is age nothing more than greater senses of living and loss? May it be fair for one to be contemptuous of the resolution of quiet living? If none is of importance amongst our own dwelling, why not seek to remedy this state of affairs?
For as one is young, then too the thought is of the happiness of their own kind. For this there is to live so much more.
“If God granted him life, in thirty years he would’ve planted so many more. That these 10,000 would be like a drop of water in the sea.”
Just Below The Surface
Much can be the work of the hand and soul of one man, with no mechanical help, to create as too to their creator.
Dreams stretch to as far as the eye can see, growing beyond the mercy of rodents. Providence yields to such creations of man. Being more than their capacity for destruction.
To be as young children, tender, but firm and confident. Creation follows in natural sequence to the man resolved in his simple tasks.
“Truly this was the most impressive effect of creation natural cycle that I’d ever seen”
A Reason For Living
How much of all things are the caprice of nature? Such creation absolves one to interfere. Whom of any can imagine such constant magnificent generosity?
Be one to never lose heart, let not the heart be deterred. For the heavens itself is not against thee; to achieve such an end, its beginning was of many obstacles.
“For such passion to be achieved, surely he must have conquered despair.”
A Reason For Living
Silent contemplation of the landscape, slopes desolation; peace of mind plants ambition.
Shepherds go about exactly as they know, to pillage for the unseen — becoming.
Symbol the likes of rebirth with the type of labor only hope can inspire. Restored and cleared so the meadows of narrow valleys can be made anew.
Happy, comfortable to settle amongst the plains of youth, life, and the spirit of adventure. Glowing in the health of rustic pleasure.
Transformed for many, by the labor of one.
“When I think that one man, one body, and one spirit, was enough to turn a dessert to the land of canaan, I find afterall a man’s destiny can be truly wonderful. But when I consider the passionate determination, the unfailing generosity of spirit it took to achieve this end, I am filled with admiration for this old unlearned person, who was able to complete a task worthy of God”
To The Believer
Find that in the heart of man lies the echo of creation imparted. A shepherd worthy to flock as much as the sheep may follow; to know which of the seeds are to plant.
Be of the type of labor hope can inspire.
Desire clean air so quietly that you are surrounded by it. The simple repetition of working makes for the meadows in valley known by far more than a few.
Destiny is the real in wonder, a task to beget so much more.
For no man is worthy of God. Though be so far impassioned by the things of His heart, the unfailing generosity of spirit may live certain in the peace of it.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
~ Matthew 9:37-38
Further Reflections
The Singers: Unchained Melody
What less is there to do than sing that cry from the depth of heart and ache?
Train Dreams: A Faint Understanding
A quietly somber and solemn piece about the world, our place in it, and the echoes of the experience onward.
Nomadland: See You Down The Road
What have you to say of the open road? One that far rides past where you’ve been?
Credit: Script and select images used in this post are from The Man Who Planted Trees. Included for reflective commentary and thematic analysis.
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