Dirs: Laurent Charbonnier and Michel Seydoux | France, Docudrama 81′
I once read that an oak tree provides a home for over 500 creatures. So living opposite a mature one for over twenty years I was fascinated to discover my neighbours. And this exquisite French doc follows life through the seasons in an oak tree that first sprouted in the Loire Valley in 1821.
Heart of the Oak plays out like a thriller with differently timed sequences so it isn’t strictly a documentary. There are moments of high tension in a film that isn’t preachy but peaceably silent apart from occasional bursts from Dean Martin’s tune-book. Gradually Laurent Charbonnier and Michel Seydoux set the scene in the vast branches of this ancient habitat showing how the tree’s root systems communicate to provide for an entire community of animals that each play their part in creating a seamless ecological environment: there are predators but nature’s helpers too, and as the titles roll at the end, there are some Latin names to conjure with, and their French and English common names. Immaculate aerial and close-up photography, using the latest audiovisual technologies (including 360-degree virtual cameras, machinery and special effects), and cutting edge innovations allowed the team to approach the microscopic worlds and glide through this miraculous bosky expose to offer an intimate understanding of the daily interactions between wood mice, jays, acorn weevils, goshawks woodpeckers, barn owns and red squirrels and many more. Truly a miraculous insight into the workings of our natural world. @MeredithTayor
Heart Of An Oak will be in UK Cinemas from 12th July and on Digital Download from 12th August