The Ancient Woods
Last night I had the opportunity to see the new award-winning documentary, The Ancient Woods, shot over four-years by biologist turned filmmaker, Mindaugas Survila. What first caught my attention was that the film focused on an old-growth forest in Lithuania. As a Nemophilist, I simply couldn't help myself and recruited the family to attend the film with me.
The Ancient Woods is a rare documentary in that there is no narration, simply the sounds and sights of the forest to attenuate your senses into feeling like you're actually there in the woods of Lithuania. The views of spiders waking up from crystalline snow and moving about, of their glistening spider webs in what seemed to be a spring rain for the forest was now green, to the mother owl feeding her little owlets with her majestic wings wavering to hold her in place is like nothing you would ever see in your typical film.
The best part may have been the little wolf pups crawling from their den, stumbling over each other to get a better view of their outside world. In the background you can hear the adult wolves howling to one another, and one of the little cubs closes their eyes and lets fly a little "woo", as though calling their mother back.
In short, if this documentary premiers near you, do yourself a favor and attend. For an hour and a half you'll be away from the urban center your theater calls home, and it will feel good to have a virtual closeness with nature, even for just a time.
