A Movie Review

A story by Jean Giono, The Man Who Planted Trees may be one of the best children's stories I've ever heard, although I don't know many children who would truly appreciate what was being told. My husband ordered it from Netflix the other night and we watched it long after Lily had fallen asleep. We loved it, but when we tried to play it for Lily the next day, she lost interest within 5 minutes of pushing play.

It was a pencil drawn cartoon with slightly moving parts, like, the birds would fly across an otherwise still landscape. Lines of wind would blow across a field of trees or you could see the breath come out of the man's mouth as he spoke while nothing else was moving. It took a lot of imagination, but the narrator told the story with such detail that all the spaces were filled in beautifully. I just hope we can remember to try playing it for Lily again when she's a little older and see how that goes.

The DVD also featured an interview with the author, Mr. Giono, that most certainly took place in the 70s or so in some remote hills of France. I can't remember exactly where. Since he was French, the interview was captioned and not terribly easy to follow. D lost interest pretty quickly (perhaps that's where Lily gets it from) but as a wannabe writer, I was curious to see what he had to say about his process of writing. As a side note, sometimes I think I'm more enamored by the idea of writing than the act of it, as I'm really not that good and not nearly as disciplined as a good writer must be.

Anyway, I was able to relate with at least this little bit of what he said. He said writing was much less the act of writing than all the moments that lead up to the development of a story. Writers have a story to tell because they've lived their lives and paid attention. I may not pay attention to detail, but I certainly try to live my life. I've done a lot of things that many people I know would never do.

Lately I've been struggling with this notion. The responsibility of having a child really doesn't allow me to be terribly free without considering implications or consequences involved. I've always prided myself on appreciating the experience and not not doing something because I was afraid of what might happen. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't all balls to the wall by any means, I'm just saying...what am I saying? Shit. I don't know anymore.