Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

worleythom Simple story of the power of a life of hope, generosity, and perseverance.Animated, well-drawn.A man spends years planting trees, gradually transforming a wasteland into a forest; changes the area from one supporting a few ornery people into thriving towns.Seems like a true story.Set in the years between WWI and WWII in Provence, in southeastern France, at an altitude of about 1000 meters.Well done, worth a look.

bob the moo This short film is 30 minutes long and it is pretty deceptive in how it works because on the face of it the story is very simple, a little bit "pat" in the message and also quite long compared to the average length for short film animations. I say it is deceptive because in every way it appears it manages to be the opposite. So it looks like it should feel long, but yet it moves quite quickly as it tells the story. Likewise it appears that the story being so simple and delivered in a patience even tone means that it will be dull or eel like it is moving too slowly but yet the opposite is the case as the story draws you in, engaging you and taking you with it.The dialogue does this by having lots of personal detail and phrasing that means it never sounds like a dry description so much as it does the actual memories of an actual person. It is simple to describe this difference but hard to pull off and the film does it well. The nature of the telling is also very important and credit to whomever cast Plummer because his rich warm voice fits the dialogue like a glove, softly drawing us in with a gentle approach. The animation completes the film and indeed operates like the whole by virtue of appearing simple but yet being more than it appears at first glance. We are used to very detailed CGI etc when we watch animated film now, so the more traditional style here doesn't impress in an instance, but overall it is really well done with great colors, nice movement of the viewer's eye over landscapes and some beautiful images.I was not greatly moved by the film but I was touched by it in an affectionate and gentle fashion. No one part of it will knock your socks off, but as a whole package the film works very well as a story, gently and effectively told.

revere-7 Can one person change the world? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, even if one person may not be able to change the world, with dedication and hard work, one person can certainly make a change to part of it. The very believable "The Man Who Planted Trees", which although it is actually a work of fiction, is frequently mistaken for a true story, adequately demonstrates this concept. The understated colored pencil animation beautifully takes full advantage of the medium while simultaneously working very effectively with the style of narrative storytelling. This short feature is highly recommended.

ackstasis Frédéric Back's 'The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)' is the one short film that has been fervently recommended to me above all others, and I'm surprised that it took me so very long to get around to it {fortunately, my stubbornness proved beneficial, since I was able to hold out for a high-quality copy}. My only previous experience with Back was his first Oscar-nominated effort 'All Nothing (1980)' in May 2007, and I enjoyed its artistry, even if the basis in Creationism kept me distanced from its central themes. This effort, arguably Back's most celebrated, tells the story of Elezeard Bouffier, an old shepherd who singlehandedly created a forest through decades of planting seeds. Though I initially assumed that Bouffier was a real-life figure, he was, in fact, a fictional creation of author Jean Giono, who apparently perpetuated the misconception. Either way, this shepherd's story is powerful and inspirational, Back's animation giving life to Giono's uplifting tale.When I recall Frédéric Back's work, the first contemporary animator who comes to mind is Aleksandr Petrov, whose paint-on-glass animation allows similar dream-like visuals that morph from one image to another like a shifting desert landscape. 'The Man Who Planted Trees' doesn't resemble a moving oil painting, as does Petrov's work, but instead bears a slightly more minimalistic pastel-sketching style. Even so, the attention-to-detail is simply staggering. For the film's opening half, the colour palette is largely sepia-toned, emphasising the sheer barrenness of the desert, with bare rocks and coarse weeds lashed by a dry, bitter wind. As Bouffier plants his trees, Back gradually introduces colour into his work, symbolising the physical and spiritual rebirth of the region. My single slight criticism with the film is that the narration should probably have been used more sparingly. As warm as I found Christopher Plummer's voice, I think that some scenes would have proved more powerful had the viewer been left to his own accord, to absorb for himself the breathtaking beauty of Back's animation.'The Man Who Planted Trees' serves, I think, as a fine counterpoint to Back's previous short film, 'All Nothing.' In the latter, a dissatisfied Mankind rapes and pillages the life that his Creator has placed upon the planet. In this film, Mankind gives back to nature; rather than destroying life, Bouffier creates it himself, even as two World Wars rage overhead. On at least two occasions, the narrator {Christopher Plummer in the English-language version, Philippe Noiret in the French} remarks that what Bouffier accomplished makes him something akin to God. Indeed, the government officials who arrive to observe his forest can think of no other explanation for the miraculous rebirth, declaring it an astonishing natural phenomenon. Nobody can believe that all this joy could have been created by the hand of a single man. I interpreted this as a touchingly humanist statement. After all, if an old shepherd like Elezeard Bouffier can give rise to such life, why, indeed, do we need a God at all?