The Limits of What We Know is an achingly beautiful eco-film making the film festival rounds and getting rave reviews. The Limits of What We Know, directed by Amy Bodman, explores, as the title suggests, the restrictions we put on our understanding of the complexities and interconnectivity of the world and its inhabitants.
Filmmmaker Bodman went to Zimbabwe ‘to make a film about land as a living entity.” Fifteen years later, she premiered The Limits of What We Know at the Vancouver Film Festival. We caught up with Amy to ask her a few questions about interconnectivity, and how we can reconnect with the eco-systems around us.
What is the thesis of The Limits of What We Know?
Indirectly, one of the things the film seeks to address is a despair of our time - that we as a species are killing our planet, and that the planet would be better off without us.
The central thesis is that there is a silent and invisible force at work responding to the changes that are happening to our planet, but we aren't recognizing it and therefore can't work with it. The film suggests that if we can start recognizing this force, and start responding to it, we can become a part of the ecosystem again - a part of what sustains the careful work of evolution rather than something that just destroys it.
How long did you spend making the film?
The film took 15 years to make, working very part-time.
Is this the film you set out to make?
I did not set out to Zimbabwe with my crew with a specific film in mind - I only knew that I wanted to make a film about land as a living entity, and that I wanted to film it in Zimbabwe. With that being said, this is exactly the film I set out to make.
...it's a film about the increasing dominance of a single species and the dangers that poses.
Is this film about Zimbabwe only or does it have a larger context?
It has a larger context. It is a record of Zimbabwe at a specific time; it's a film about the relationship between people, animals and the earth; it's a film about time; it's a film about change; it's a film that presents a picture of post-Colonial Africa, and it's a film about the increasing dominance of a single species and the dangers that poses. It's also a film about nature's ability to impose limits in order to sustain/heal itself.
Are we limited in how we look at the interconnectivity of the earth and its inhabitants?
Absolutely. We are very people-centric, and we forget that we are a part of something much larger, more complex and far more powerful than ourselves. We see ourselves as outside of nature.
How can we benefit from seeing the connection between the various elements on the earth and the earth itself?
We have to start imagining things beyond our own compartments, beyond our own expertise. I believe that this force, be it nature or something else, often speaks to us in the ways we least expect. It speaks to us through what we don't know, through what perhaps hasn't yet occurred to us. We have to start considering that what we don't know, that what appears to us as an uncertainty rather than as a certainty, what humbles us, might be exactly what will save us. Environmentalists and conservationists are probably as guilty of sticking to what they think is certain as the rest of us.
Is it a spiritual film? If so, how?
It's a film that, among other things, seeks to give evidence of a secret, silent force that is mysterious and is connected to the essence of life itself. The film tries to show it as a force that works both within us and outside of us. It tries to show how both religion and science give evidence to the existence of this force (The Language of Trees). It does this by leaving a lot of room for the viewer to make the connections between what is being said. The film doesn't do it for them - that's what makes it different than a lot of the documentaries we are used to.
If our soil is depleted, we add fertilizer. If we are sick, we take medication - all so that we can maintain our level of productivity, even when sustaining that level of productivity isn't healthy.
How can we reconnect with the ecosystems around us?
One way we can reconnect with the ecosystems around us is by looking at the limits that come into our lives and assume that they are meaningful. We can assume that they have come to prevent us from acting in a way that is unsustainable, and to point us to a way of acting that is sustainable. In general, we see limits as bad things because they stop us from doing what we are used to or what we have come to depend upon. If our soil is depleted, we add fertilizer. If we are sick, we take medication - all so that we can maintain our level of productivity, even when sustaining that level of productivity isn't healthy. We should look at the limits that come into our lives, those things that absolutely stop us in our tracks, as intelligent forces that are trying to tell us something and to point us somewhere.
What will people take away after seeing your film?
I hope they will like some of the amazing stories in the film and remember them. I hope they will think about what they might not be seeing. I hope they will begin to consider what secrets might be hidden in the things that seem unremarkable and ordinary. I hope they will trust their own instincts and not rely entirely on convention to tell them what to do or what is true. I hope they will consider that a lot might be happening when it seems like nothing is. I also hope they will take away with them an affection for Zimbabwe because it could use that affection right now.
Where can people see the film?
The film is not in distribution yet, but people can order a DVD of it through its website at www.thelimitsofwhatweknow.com. Hopefully, it will show in more festivals in the near future.
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