If you take the wise step of putting “The Man Who Planted Trees” in your DVD queue, many things about this quietly beautiful animation will seem familiar.
The spare, gently pulsating drawings will bring to mind the United Airlines commercials of late. Christopher Plummer’s calm, resonant voice may conjure good memories of the narrations he did for the “Madeline’ cartoon series, always among my daughters’ favorites. And the story contained in this 30- minute short film, of a solitary man who repopulates a barren valley — and his desolate life — by planting 100,000 oak trees, will bring up comparisons to America’s Johnny Appleseed.
There is something timeless and mythological about “The Man Who Planted Trees.” The plot, the pictures, the narration, all combine into a story at once reassuring and haunting.
Frederic Back created this Academy Award winner from a tale written by Jean Giono. An unnamed narrator takes a long hike deep into the mountains of France and stumbles upon an abandoned village and a picked-over countryside. He meets a stoic shepherd who gives him water and takes him in for the night, and the narrator discovers the shepherd’s secret: Each night he sorts out 100 good acorns, and each morning he sets off to plant them.
World War I intervenes, and the narrator goes away. Eventually he returns, in search not only of what might have become a forest, but also in search of the happiness that the shepherd might represent to a cynical world.
You’ll wonder if the story was based on true events or people.Either way, “The Man Who Planted Trees” is a remarkable animation experience for the whole family.
“The Man Who Planted Trees”
Not rated, with no objectionable content for any age, with animated scenes of dead people, war devastation and aerial attacks. Best suited for: Anyone in the family, from the youngest to oldest, could understand and gain from this simple story, perfectly told.
