Winter Movies 2014: The Garden

Today’s documentary, in which plants have the starring role, is The Garden (2009) by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, the story of the largest community garden in the United States. The 14-acre garden was started in South Central Los Angeles, in the aftermath of the riots in 1992 over the Rodney King verdict. The community garden enabled poor families in a blighted neighborhood to sign up for a plot of land, and grow food for their families. For ten years, they farmed the land for free, transforming the neighborhood, community, and their lives.

Then they receive the Notice to Vacate from the owner. The farmers organize under the name South Central Farmers, and hire a lawyer. They receive an injunction, giving them time to research and make their case. Turns out the owner is not the owner—he is a Developer who had lost the property to the City in an eminent domain action years before, receiving $5M in compensation. Ten years later the City offered to sell the land back to the Developer for the original price of $5M. Several community leaders were promoting the idea that what the community wanted was soccer fields, not community gardens, on this land. Interesting, since the land is surrounded by warehouses, not exactly an inviting neighborhood for soccer matches.

 

As the story unfolds, it is evident that a few individuals are working a back room deal to profit from the land deal. The Developer offers to sell the land to South Central Farmers for $16M; amazingly, they are able to raise the funds, but the Developer backs out. The beautiful garden plots are bulldozed over. The film’s post log reports that several years later, the 14 acre plot is still bare land—no soccer fields and no development.

The community garden transformed a blighted, cement- and warehouse-covered piece of land, producing food for poor residents who were willing to do the work, and helping the planet by reverting to natural processes that heal the soil and cleanse the air. Of course, the owner of the land has the right to use the property, but, as depicted in the film, it is often not an even playing field. After seeing the lush gardens, with their banana and papaya trees, vegetables and herbs, it seems a shame to see it revert to a bare lot. The film raises interesting land use questions. Are there better ways to use fallow land? How many of our urban problems could be solved by rethinking how we use land? The film was a microcosm of larger issues. Take a look at the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1252486/