Movies - The Man Who Planted Trees

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	Movies - The Man Who Planted Trees

The Man Who Planted Trees (French title L'homme qui plantait des arbres), also known as "The Story of Elzéard Bouffier"; "The Most Extraordinary Character I Ever Met"; and "The Man who Planted Hope and Reaped Happiness" is an allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono.

It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps near Provence throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Synopsis

The tale is narrated by a twenty-year-old man who remains anonymous throughout (although it has been suggested the narrator may perhaps be the author Jean Giono, there is no evidence for this). The story begins in the year 1910 in which this young man is undertaking a lone hiking trip trough Provence, France, and into the Alps, enjoying the relatively unspoiled wilderness.

However the narrator runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilisation except old, empty crumbling buildings. The narrator finds a dried up well but is saved, however, by a middle-aged shepherd who takes him to a spring he knows of.

Curious of this man, and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the narrator stays with him for a time. The shepherd, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined ecosystem of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by singled-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. The shepherd, who reveals his name as Elzéard Bouffier, makes holes in the ground with his long cane and drops acorns into the holes that he has collected from a location many miles away.

The narrator leaves the shepherd and returns home, and later fights in the First World War. In 1915, shell-shocked and depressed after the war, the man decides to return to Elzéard Bouffier. He is suprised to see young saplings of all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it where the shepherd has made natural dams higher up in the mountain. There the narrator makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit Elzéard Bouffier every year. Elzéard Bouffier is no longer a shepherd because he is worried about the sheep affecting his young trees, and has taken up a new profession. He is now a bee keeper.

Over a period spanning four decades, Elzéard Bouffier continues to plant trees and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the book, the valley has a vibrant ecosystem and is peacefully settled. The valley receives official protection after the Second World War (of course the authorities mistakenly believe that the rapid growth of this forest is a bizarre natural phenomenon as they are unaware of Bouffier's selfless deeds) and more than 10,000 people move there, all of them unknowingly owing their happiness to Elzéard Bouffier.

The narrator visits the now very old Elzéard Bouffier one last time, where he lies in a hospice in Banon, in 1947. There the man who planted trees peacefully passes away.

Novella

Jean Giono's tale was first published in Vogue Magazine in 1954, and was published as a hardback book in 1985.

Animated short

L'homme qui plantait des arbres (English title "The Man Who Planted Trees") is a 30 minute long animated adaptation by French-Canadian director Frédéric Back, produced in 1987, a year after the hardback was released. The original animated short was in French and narrated by Philippe Noiret.

However a dubbed version released in the English speaking world, that was narrated by Christopher Plummer. The animated short was released to international critical acclaim and became one of the most award-winning animated shorts ever made.

The film has never been released on DVD, and VHS copies have become rare, expensive and difficult to obtain. However it has still achieved cult status, especially among artists, preservation groups and ecological trusts.

International awards won by the animated short in 1987

Won an Oscar (Academy Award for Animated Short Film
)
First Prize at the International Fairytale Film Festival
Gold Medal at the Chicago International Film Festival
Was in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival

A true story?

Some have claimed the story is complete fiction on the part of the author, whilst others have claimed that Elzéard Bouffier was a genuine historical figure and that the narrator of the story was a young Jean Giono himself speaking from experience and therefore the tale is part autobiographical. Certainly, Jean Giono lived during the time period. However, the exact geographic location of the valley in Giono's tale is not mentioned, and therefore there is a lack of evidence to back up either claim.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Man Who Planted Trees ]

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