The Garden

The titular garden profiled in this 2008 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary is actually the largest community garden in the United States: 14 acres in the middle of South Central Los Angeles transformed by a largely Latino population from a blighted lot into a flowering urban oasis of family-farmed plots. Although the community has farmed the land since 1992, the city decided to sell the property for business development, issuing an eviction notice in 2004. Scott Hamilton Kennedy's The Garden, combining guerilla-style handheld video camera footage and excerpts from local news reports and televised city council meetings, profiles the community's grassroots efforts to fight the city and corporate concerns. Kennedy's sympathies obviously lie with the farmers, as the film celebrates community activism and social protest, but The Garden also captures the dissent within the garden community itself as the fight forces the loose organization to police its lax rules, setting one-time allies against one another (at one point with a machete in hand). While the documentary also touches on racial and cultural conflicts dredged up during the battle, the focus remains on the politics of money in a culture where profit trumps social concerns and quality of life—especially when it comes to minority communities without political clout. A provocative, informative film sure to spark discussion, this is recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy, farmer/activist Tezozomoc, and producers Vivianne Nacif and Dominique Derrenger, a Q&A segment with Kennedy, actress-activist Daryl Hannah, and several participant farmers (19 min.), an interview with Kennedy by Movie City News critic David Poland (15 min.), featurettes and extended scenes on “More Farmers and Farm History” (8 min.), “Celebrities Visit the Garden” with James Cromwell and others (7 min.), “Farmers Return to City Council” (5 min.), “Allegations of Antisemitism” (3 min.), “March to Mayor's Mansion” (2 min.), “Protest at Horowitz's Offices” (2 min.), and “A New Design for the Garden” (2 min.), as well as trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a winning doc.] (S. Axmaker)