Betty Osceola, a Miccosukee tribal elder, talks about humans and climate change. That what mankind is doing, especially our pollution, “throws nature’s cycle off….Think about it. You know it’s true”. Sasha Wortzel’s River of Grass features her narration, explaining Osceola’s walks, half spiritual, haf protest. Her documentary is full of contradictions in the best way. These contradictions somehow prove her point. Natural beauty seems indestructible doring some shots, like one where we see the night sky above the Miccosukee Territory (Everglades in Florida). But within the frame comes light pollution, a sign of human interference that viewers can also see in real life. Some human interference needs a keen eye but other symptoms are more noticeable, like invasive Burmese pythons. Other noticeable things that the camera captures include the algae and poison where creatures live without choice.

It’s easy to frame Wortzel’s documentary as one that valorizes nature and in turn, demozies humans as mere polluters. She doesn’t just point her camera towards nature but she also lets viewers see generations of ecological activists. Most of them are women, half of them Indigenous like Osceola and the other half are mere settlers. All of them do what they can, some of them like Osceola organize nature walks with some willing participants. Others work in shifts, looking for Burmese pythons and others that may destroy the ecosystem in the Everglades. I’m a believer that all cinema is political, and this documentary, through what it includes, is no exception. There’s also a tendency for environmental documentaries to make its viewers feel helpless against the incoming Holocene extinction. But thankfully, Wortzel’s personal approach shows that all it takes is a few people to block the tide.

Courtesy of Hot Docs / Sasha Wortzel