Filmmaker Molly Kreuzman’s inspiring documentary chronicles the experiences of Tori Davis, a special needs teenager with ADD, who decides to take a gap year before going to college. Tori joins four other young women for a year’s stay in the Oregon Cascade Range mountains. Led by two instructors, the Caretaker Program gives teenagers a chance to live semi-primitively for four seasons in the forest—minus the conveniences and technology of today’s society—in order to connect with nature, detoxify from modern-day stresses, and learn self-reliance. During the fall, the young women build a fire using friction and cook their own meals, working together as a team while adjusting to isolated living. Using only hand tools—axes, hacksaws—the women design and construct a winter shelter by chopping down trees, binding logs together with cord, and mixing mud plaster by hand that is then applied to bark and other forest materials to form a roof. With less work during the short days of winter, Tori enjoys sledding, reading, and writing in her journal. As spring approaches, Tori learns about tracking and spends time alone meditating, listening to the sounds of nature, and observing wildlife. While Tori had trouble remembering information and keeping friends at high school, she credits her gap year experience with helping her to gain self-confidence, establish trust and friendships, and find her own place in a group—all of which help to make her life easier in college. An interesting look at the benefits of a back-to-nature program for modern youth, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Root)
Earth Seasoned: #Gap Year
(2017) 75 min. DVD: $350. Bullfrog Films. PPR. SDH captioned. ISBN: 1-941545-98-X. Volume 33, Issue 5
Earth Seasoned: #Gap Year
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