User Reviews

Everyone has a story to tell. Some stories are far more interesting to hear than others, but ask ourselves this: is our story worth reading, does our story make a difference in this world, or is our story even worth being told? As many people continue digging their own graves and bringing their story to an end, Wangari Maathai tells us her story on how she is fighting to keep our world prosperous and alive in the documentary Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. This documentary is an example of a vision we should seek out to make the world we live in a better place, to make our story matter.

In this documentary the audience learns about Ms. Maathai's life and of many of her achievements. The audience gains knowledge about how she became the successful woman she is known to be today. The documentary explains Wangari's educational journey and how she began as a child in Nyeri, Kenya. Her educational journey ended with her receiving a PhD from the University College of Nairobi. Her story then brought the audience to see how she came to be awarded with the Noble Peace Prize through her hard work and dedication to a cause. Her story is an inspiration of how just one woman can start a movement and have it grow into something far more meaningful. Ms. Maathai began a movement known as the Green Belt Movement, an organization for women who live in rural areas to come together and plant trees to help with the current living conditions. This movement gained great momentum as the women and families who participated in it came together and found many root causes to deforestation, poverty, and political oppression. Therefore, they felt empowered as a group and became a political force. She writes her story and the film takes the time to portray some of her ups and downs in life and the difference she made in Kenya. The film reveals the stories of a few of the woman who participated in the Green Belt Movement as well as Wangari Maathai's aunt. These woman make a difference as well as share their stories and how it intertwines with Maathai's, to make the documentary have an impact. . It started as an environmental film where these woman got together to plant trees so that they could feed their children the fruit that grew on these trees and use the fire wood to cook the food. Then as the movement grew and these woman discussed how they wanted to change the way things were, they wanted to fight the oppression and the government that oppressed them. They wanted to fight for democracy. This documentary was empowering to watch as a woman. In the documentary you can see the mistreatment of these women and how they feel about it, including Ms. Maathai. No one was standing up for them so they decided to stand up for themselves and fight for themselves. Together as a group they did the unthinkable. Woman are often seen as inferior, so seeing how the Green Belt Movement empowers these woman to make a difference in their communities and in their country was truly encouraging and motivating. As the trees grow, so do the woman and communities in the documentary.

Most of the documentary takes place in Kenya, starting out in Maathai's home of Nyeri, Kenya. The film portrays a lot of the landscape that surrounds Kenya with vivid and beautiful screenshots of trees and running water. Sounds of the wild, rushing water and birds chirping fill the background as we glide through the countries landscapes. The sound technique really helps to paint an extraordinarily beautiful picture of what Kenya is like. These shots of Kenya's environment allow the viewer to understand why the woman want to restore and preserve their home. In addition to the nature scenes, the documentary gives shots of protests and the environment in which the women of the Green Belt Movement work. These shots help the audience understand where Wangari is coming from by appealing to their pathos.

The direction the film was headed in was an environmental standpoint, however it is far more than that. It is a documentary that demonstrates aspects of feminism and moral values that are held dearly in Kenya. Although I wish it did show the spread of the movement and the growth with a couple frames. If the film would have showed more on how the movement spread through Kenya and the support it received, I feel like it would have really shown the political impact. The protests are really a way of showing how her story and movement affected the people of Kenya. She led a lot of the protests and explained why they were doing it to those who were concerned. Wangari just wanted people to hear her out and she wanted to help those who needed a little push to make the difference they wished to see

This film is definitely worth watching. It wasn't too long and didn't drag on. It had a very minimal amount of people to track and remember. It also wasn't boring to watch and really gets you to think about what you are doing to help the world. Watching these woman and listening to their stories was more than inspiring. It makes you want to go out and not just write your own story but inspire other people's stories so that together a difference is made. If you leave with anything from this film is that everything starts with one story so that you can see the bigger picture.

As simple an action as planting a tree can make a difference in the everyday lives of a village. The documentary Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai directed by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater is about an empowering woman named Wangari Maathai from Kenya who reconnected with her roots to help women from her rural village. Her village lacked firewood and clean water; soil was drastically disappearing and children were not getting a proper nutritional diet. Seeing this made her step into the role as a founder of the Greenbelt Movement, which teaches people from her village how to plant trees. Not only is planting trees a way to help with the everyday lives of her people, but it is a way to fight against deforestation, political oppression, poverty, and economic interest. Prior to watching this documentary, I knew nothing about this courageous woman Wangari Maathai, but I do know a little bit about colonialism and the agenda of white supremacy amongst countries who are dependent to the powerful British empire. "The more I looked into the environment and the more I looked into the problems that people were complaining about... the more I understood that what we were complaining about were the symptoms and we need to understand the causes of our symptoms," explained Maathai. This quote is significant to the movie because the history behind deforestation or "symptoms" goes to the root of white supremacy. Learning about white supremacy made me understand the British Military's intention to wage war against the Mau Mau. The British Military wanted to remove these people's culture, and so they started with deforestation. After this deforestation is their cynical agenda of economic incentives for tea and coffee agriculture to oppress the Kenyan villagers. However, even after the independence and the prime minister in 1960's, the continuation of corruption and deforestation continued. The idea of deforestation as a way of "digging their own graves" was a metaphor that was powerful enough to build the Greenbelt movement, which was founded in 1977. Maathai's vision clearly showed that there is power in the village to stand up against the colonial ideology that is supposed to keep them oppressed forever. She told these people that there is no need for a diploma to plant a tree. Maathai is a woman that I describe as somebody who is bold and opinionated. She used her doctoral education to speak up against the ruthless officials who think women's opinions should not be respected. She fought back in ways that did not harm anybody namely by planting trees. Having trees save our planet; it does not wear down our ecosystem and keep water in rivers. Additionally, by planting trees, women see that they and their children will have a better lifestyle, and, more importantly, they will feel the freedom and confidence that, as African women, they too can make a difference. In this film, women play a huge role where not only they are seen as inferior, but also mothers are respected. The scene I found striking was when the Greenbelt movement were protesting and then were attacked. Mothers started undressing to stop the violence. This is part of the culture where the younger men have to respect these women because they are like their mothers. Furthermore, my favorite quote from the movie is "I've never thought of myself as an African woman, I've never thought of myself as a woman to begin with, for me the limit was my capacity, my capability," Maathai proudly explained despite how African women are portrayed in her society. Although the government occasionally interfered, 35 million trees were planted because of the resilience and vision of the Greenbelt Movement and Wangari Maathai. This documentary film is very effective in a way that captivates the viewers, especially women who want to make a real difference in the world. The plot of the story was structured in a way that started with Maathai reflecting on her childhood days when there was a fig tree and a stream where tadpoles were swimming around. Then in the 1960's she realized her favorite fig tree got cut down, which foreshadowed a future after trees are gone: rivers will dry up and other children will not be able to experience seeing tadpoles in the river. I found this plot structure a significant twist in the movie because it adds a personalization that captures the pathos or feelings of the audience. The background music reminds me of a background music for a safari documentary. It is very solemn especially in the historical part where the white settlers took over the tribes in Kenya. Seeing this breaks my heart because they had "a formula" to weaken, divide and destroy these tribal cultures. For example, the white missionaries converted the tribes to believe in biblical doctrine. Maathai added "as good as they are, they are not good at wisdom of our people." This describes the fact that this whole deforestation started with the British colonizers, who removed their culture from them where they valued animals being freed in the forest. Furthermore, the voice overs I thought were great, because I liked that not only was he voice overs translated into English, but also the interviewees were speaking in their Native language. By speaking their native language, the film depicts the education that rural people of Kenya have in regards to environmental issues and that this is their project and not an economic interests of the elites. Moreover, I am not going to critique the budget of the film because it is not a fictional film, but an educational documentary; however, I do think that this documentary is worth every penny spent because the film had no dull parts because it jumps from the vision, to the history, to the present, and to the future. However, my opinion could be biased because I gravitate towards informational and inspiring documentary films. There could be flaws with the editing, but it is not that important as long as the person gets the message across. Overall, I give this film a rating of 9 out of 10 stars because although this film is inspiring and intriguing, I thought the film was too long. After 40 minutes with the movie, I already got the gist and goals of this movie. I thought that Maathai adding about her aunt telling her stories as a kid was unnecessary because she already mentioned her childhood with the fig trees and the tadpoles and I already understood that. By her bringing this up, she hopes the children of the future are going to be able to experience environment like it was back in the day when natural resources were plentiful. In a positive note, I give this film a 9 because to realize that a woman of color can make a difference despite of the bashing and conflict from the elites, Maathai was not discouraged to accomplish her vision. Her vision of fighting against deforestation, poverty, embedded colonialism interest, and fighting for human rights worked successfully by simply planting trees. Therefore, this documentary is highly recommended to people especially to women of color for self-empowerment and to people who do not know where to start to create change. This film is a must.