“Daughters of the Forest” takes a remarkable look at the life of fungi in the native forests of Oaxaca and Mexico states in southern Mexico. But it is so much more.
The film begins with rain falling in the forest. On the forest floor peeking out of the duff of twigs, pine needles and decaying leaves, are puffball mushrooms. As a raindrop strikes a puffball, a smoky plume of spores emerges – the next generation of the fungus. But the puffball, indeed any mushroom, is merely the reproductive fruit of the fungus, like an apples is but the fruit of a tree, with its seeds the next generation of that being. Below the duff, in the soil, is the body of the fungus – uncountable white threads that spread in all direction. This is the mycelium, the being itself; and the delicate tendrils, reaching out to contact the roots of plants nearby make up a living web extending throughout the forest.
There are other webs of life in the forest. The indigenous human population which has lived in harmony with the forest for millennia make up another such web. Specifically here are the Zapatec people, represented by Juli, her mother, grandmother, other family members, and her little son. Juli is studying to be a mycologist. Building on the forest, and especially the mushroom knowledge of her grandmother and others, Juli represents the protective spirit, working to make sure the forest survives, despite the callous self-serving depredations of modern society, as represented by deforestation.
Director Otilia Portillo Padua (“Dario a Tres Voces”) has given us a beautiful allegory for how to live in a world not of our making but of which we are an integral part. An essential part is the “voice” given to the mycelia as they grow under the surface, trying to discover their place in the forest and to survive the changes being wrought. Like the fungi, Juli must also face the threat of violence from the loggers, the frustration of being an indigenous woman seeking specialized education in a world different from her own, and the loss of family members. Through it, she is upheld by other supportive women, just as the invisible web of life sustains the forest.
Cinematographer Martin Boege (“Gods of Mexico”) gives us one gorgeous macro or micro vista after another: the forest and mountains, the mushrooms in their glorious variety, the simple lives of the indigenous people.
“Daughters of the Forest” is a masterwork of cinematic storytelling – and a warning about the natural world modern man is all too intent on exploiting and carelessly destroying.
Note: This film is being presented in some circles is “sci fi,” perhaps because the forest “speaks.” This is incorrect, in my opinion, and does the film creators a disservice. It is more a spiritual exploration of the place of all creatures in the great web of life that encircles our globe.
Runtime: One hour and 34 minutes
Availability: Currently in film festivals
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