★★★

I mean this as a compliment and not as sarcasm: The Hidden Life of Trees is a soothing, calming podcast of a documentary - an academia-level investigation on how trees communicate with each other and are so crucial and vital to our very existence on the planet. What the film lacks for enthusiasm and cinematic vigor, it makes up for it with a dedicated, focused delivery of information and knowledge.

For the arborists, dendrologists, and tree enthusiasts in the world, Peter Wohlleben’s narration and navigation through this material is going to be everything they could ever hope for. For the rest of us, my wife described the film as “relaxing” and “pretty informative.” For those with a passing interest in the subject matter, The Hidden Life of Trees can be fun and engaging in fits and starts. At times, the movie loses you, as if you have stumbled into a garden party of tree enthusiasts as a “+1” and have zero to contribute to any conversation you find yourself in.

And even if co-directors Jörg Adolph and Jan Haft let the movie run a bit long at 85 minutes, they present Wohlleben and their talking heads in an inviting way. You may not be savvy enough to add much to the conversation, but boy oh boy, is everyone so happy you chose to join them.

The film has stunning cinematography, the wandering eye and camera of cinematographer Daniel Schönauer a necessary and effective one. And Wohlleben offers some intriguing support for his thesis of trees being communicative. He describes them as sentient, able to feel pain, and questions how much we take them for granted. Wohlleben more than makes his case and if you can stay with him, focus and pay attention, and not get lost in the walkabout through the German forests where much of the film takes place, The Hidden Life of Trees will educate you in a warm and inviting way.

The Hidden Life of Trees was screened as part of SIFF DocFest 2021.