The Man Who Planted Trees- Despite These Hardships

Leeper, you were right when you said that we would wish this was a true story. It's an incredible tale, and the art style used to communicate it was perfect for the atmosphere of the story. The style is simple compared to a lot of common modern methods, but this film looks as if it was pulled out of a sketchbook. Considering the old-timey-ness of the story, the faded colored pencils and sketchy lines look like it was an illustrated account of the narrator over the years.

The story itself touched my heart deeply. I love nature, especially forests, and I've had the opportunity to see some amazing forests while traveling. The most recent place with some amazing trees was in Mount Rainier National Park, in a specific part called the Grove of the Patriarchs. This section of the park housed older trees, some still standing, some fallen, but there was a pair that stood out to me.

I thought they were cool at first, trees that are joined at the roots are interesting, but there was a plaque nearby about these specific trees, and their story is unintentionally inspiring.

The Man Who Planted Trees reminds me of these millennia old Douglas firs. The forest that was planted by Elias (?) and his persistence in preserving nature through two World Wars is similar to the barely alive firs in the last sentence of the description plaque: "Despite these hardships, they survive."