THE GIANTS
THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF BOB BROWN AND THE FOREST
****
Director: Laurence Billiet and Rachael Antony
Screenplay: Laurence Billiet and Rachael Antony
Principal cast:
Bob Brown
David Suzuki
Paddy Manning
Christine Milne
Geraldine Brooks
Karen Alexander
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 110 mins.
Australian release date: 20 April 2023.
Bob Brown is an Australian environmental hero and gay icon whose lifelong commitment to, and respect for, nature has been successfully captured in Laurence Billiet and Rachael Antony’s powerful documentary The Giants. The driving force of this warrior for the natural world and human rights seems to be “don’t get depressed, get active” and it’s something he has lived by for most of his life, even being incarcerated for his beliefs. The film intersperses Brown and others talking about the various battles he has been involved with over the years, especially in his adopted home state of Tasmania, with scientific experts explaining just how interconnected forests and wilderness are to humanity and how important they are for the Earth’s continued survival. To illustrate these issues, the filmmakers have employed extraordinary point-cloud animation of giant trees such as a 100-metre-tall Eucalyptus regnans in the Styx Valley and a Myrtle Beech in the Tarkine. These images are so arresting that at first you aren’t sure what it is you are seeing: are they ash from a forest fire, motes of pollen caught in sunlight, thousands of moths in flight, or some other natural phenomenon?
The child of Presbyterian parents, his father a policeman, his mother a nature-lover, Brown was raised to believe in the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – and it is a lesson that he has employed for his more than 50 years of activism. Along the way, he’s been a doctor of medicine, a senator in parliament and the first openly gay leader of an Australian political party, the Greens. He’s also been shot at, beaten, gaoled and abused for his beliefs, and was thrown out of parliament for interrupting a speech by U.S. president George W. Bush in 2003, after which, in a clip shown in The Giants, Peter Dutton told him that he “was a complete embarrassment… to the Australian people.” His crime? Asking about the invasion of Iraq and the legality of imprisoning two Australian citizens in Guantanamo Bay.
Much of the photography in the documentary is breathtaking as the camera is suspended high in the tree canopy and trawls through the forest floor. The directors explain that they “wanted this film to speak for the trees… We wanted the audience to enter the ‘tree world’ and see trees as active, living beings, and show some of the invisible processes that take place in forest communities.” This technique, combined with the impressive animation and an excellent, varied score, make The Giants stand out from the pack of natural history programs. Add in the down-to-earth philosophy and biography of the charming and steadfast Brown, told by himself and others, plus archival footage, and the result is a superior piece of work. As Morrisey sang, “Nature is a language, can’t you read.” The Giants will open your eyes to the argot of the natural world.
Screenplay: Laurence Billiet and Rachael Antony
Principal cast:
Bob Brown
David Suzuki
Paddy Manning
Christine Milne
Geraldine Brooks
Karen Alexander
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 110 mins.
Australian release date: 20 April 2023.
Bob Brown is an Australian environmental hero and gay icon whose lifelong commitment to, and respect for, nature has been successfully captured in Laurence Billiet and Rachael Antony’s powerful documentary The Giants. The driving force of this warrior for the natural world and human rights seems to be “don’t get depressed, get active” and it’s something he has lived by for most of his life, even being incarcerated for his beliefs. The film intersperses Brown and others talking about the various battles he has been involved with over the years, especially in his adopted home state of Tasmania, with scientific experts explaining just how interconnected forests and wilderness are to humanity and how important they are for the Earth’s continued survival. To illustrate these issues, the filmmakers have employed extraordinary point-cloud animation of giant trees such as a 100-metre-tall Eucalyptus regnans in the Styx Valley and a Myrtle Beech in the Tarkine. These images are so arresting that at first you aren’t sure what it is you are seeing: are they ash from a forest fire, motes of pollen caught in sunlight, thousands of moths in flight, or some other natural phenomenon?
The child of Presbyterian parents, his father a policeman, his mother a nature-lover, Brown was raised to believe in the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – and it is a lesson that he has employed for his more than 50 years of activism. Along the way, he’s been a doctor of medicine, a senator in parliament and the first openly gay leader of an Australian political party, the Greens. He’s also been shot at, beaten, gaoled and abused for his beliefs, and was thrown out of parliament for interrupting a speech by U.S. president George W. Bush in 2003, after which, in a clip shown in The Giants, Peter Dutton told him that he “was a complete embarrassment… to the Australian people.” His crime? Asking about the invasion of Iraq and the legality of imprisoning two Australian citizens in Guantanamo Bay.
Much of the photography in the documentary is breathtaking as the camera is suspended high in the tree canopy and trawls through the forest floor. The directors explain that they “wanted this film to speak for the trees… We wanted the audience to enter the ‘tree world’ and see trees as active, living beings, and show some of the invisible processes that take place in forest communities.” This technique, combined with the impressive animation and an excellent, varied score, make The Giants stand out from the pack of natural history programs. Add in the down-to-earth philosophy and biography of the charming and steadfast Brown, told by himself and others, plus archival footage, and the result is a superior piece of work. As Morrisey sang, “Nature is a language, can’t you read.” The Giants will open your eyes to the argot of the natural world.