Film Festival 09 - Way Of Nature
Way of Nature
Naturens gang, Sweden 2008, 108m
Director: Nina Hedenius
Festivals: Amsterdam Documentary 2008
Veteran filmmaker Nina Hedenius finds something like serenity
observing the cycle of the seasons in a Swedish farm where the
farmer, Karl Gustav Hedling, is working to ensure the genetic
survival of certain native breed animals. She spent a further year
editing this exquisite portrait of the animals - cows, sheep, goats
and horses - and their guardian who, with his dogs, almost
single-handledly tends them. Her camera caresses the animals'
coats, the lay of their pelts, their coloration, the array of a
cock's tail plumes: she seems transfixed by the miracle of so much
beauty. Studiously, without a word, she rejoices in this instance
of harmony between man and the rest of nature. - Bill Gosden.
"Man is the only animal on earth that leaves refuse and waste
behind. And we freeze the sperm of a few super-bulls to supply all
of Europe's cows with offspring for maximum returns. These are some
of the thoughts that have prompted me to look at something that
might not be around much longer, but something I want to see
preserved." - Nina Hedenius
In Swedish with English subtitles
