A Natural Homecoming

Some Brief Comments on this month’s film, “Songs of Earth”
By Mountain Shadow Director, John Bennison

“If our species is to survive, we must listen to the song of the earth.” - Documentary filmmaker, Margreth Olin

Anyone with ears to hear can hear it; if one pauses long enough to simply listen. Standing in my backyard, I can hear a BART train’s wheels squealing a mile away the way the crow flies; while migrating geese honk overhead with the reminder there’s more to this world than all the inventive and sometimes-perilous ventures upon which our species has embarked to endanger our planet.

I have the boyhood memory of a week’s vacation every Summer on a Minnesota lake; where my conservative, capitalist Midwest grandfather taught me how to whistle like a pair of cardinals that co-existed for years outside his cottage. He named the birds Ike and Mamie ... But, setting aside politics from the 1950’s, more importantly he taught me how to listen and care for one small corner of this larger world we inhabit.

Margreth Olin’s film, “Songs of Nature,” is far more than a nature documentary, or family biography about her aging parents. It’s a meditation walk, shot with breathtaking cinematography and set against the backdrop of life-altering environmental changes. In one film interview, she describes her concept for the film:

“I have known for years that I wanted to make a film about our deep connection to nature, to remind us that nature is our home. I wanted to craft a love letter, and to open up an opportunity for the audience to “go into nature.” By going outside, we go in. We all carry the knowledge deep within us that we are a small part of a bigger whole, and within lies the answer to the biggest challenge of our time.”

So it is that with eyes to see and ears to hear, one can imagine coming home. jb

PS - This month’s film is somewhat reminscent of Patrick Shen’s film we screened in 2017, “In Pursuit of Silence,” available in our Member Lending Library.