The main thought I had when watching the movie Borealis, directed by the acclaimed director Kevin McMahon, was “if the trees in the Boreal forest of Canada could use their roots to speak to us, what would they say? Would it be that they were so disappointed in us…their young and foolish ancestors?”

The movie would soon reveal  an answer to this question but first delved into the life-cycle of most Boreal forests in Canada and quite shockingly started with flames—I mean to say the literal fire burning through the peat soil in the forest floor, all the way up to the crowns of the trees. All that was left was the “skeletons” of trees and carbon stored in the bare ground, which seemingly was perfect for the growth of a new virgin Boreal forest to be created. The complete story of forest succession, the battle for resources within the ecosystem, and the changing of seasons was told in vivid detail, accompanied by breathtaking shots of acres of spruce forests in what seemed to be an infinite amount of space. Only to then be reduced and almost destroyed by the ravaging forces of mountain pine beetles, climate change caused disasters, and, the underlying factor to all preceding ones, human development and greed.

The most unique part of this film was that it solely relied on shots of nature and nature alone, only showing human beings in the distance  and often blurred. In this way, the documentary solely focused on connecting one to raw, rugged, and real forces of the Boreal forest, and this was very much my experience; in a purely spiritual manner, the film had connected me to the “community and living being” that was this Boreal system. The complexity of this forest was unparalleled, with the trees sending signals to one another, communicating with other wildlife, and battling desperately and strategically for resources.