Gaia

96 Minutes / Not Rated

Written by  Tertius Kapp

Directed by Jaco Bouwer

Synopsis:

In the depths of an ancient forest, something has been growing. Something older than humanity itself, and perhaps greater too. When a park ranger discovers a man and his son living wild, she stumbles onto a secret that is about to change the world.

Gaia, on the surface, bears a passing resemblance to a film we talked about from the Sundance Film Festival: In the Earth. The idea of a “mother” bio-organism, older and more expansive than humanity, just below our feet, relentlessly spreading and ready to punish those who abuse the environment.

Once you get past those similarities, though… whee-howdy. It’s a bit like trying to explain smoke to a blind person. Instead, let me leave you with some basic impressions I had, then I’ll let you know if you should watch it or not. Ready?

• Oh, look… special mushroom spores.
• The father and son are legitimately spiritual as opposed to insane.
• The evils of man against nature/themselves.
• An outsider intrudes, threatening their ways.
• Interesting creature designs/looks. Completely organic yet otherworldly.
• When did this turn weirdly psycho-sexual? Equal emphasis on both psycho and sexual.
• There’s the metaphorical Abraham sacrificing his son to his God.

So, the end result is a film which is an exploration of humanity’s disregard for the environment, and each other, which invariably ends in disaster because the environment will always act to protect itself.

Overall, Gaia is a great little horror piece, one any fan of slightly off-kilter POVs will enjoy. We’re not sure where Gaia will end up playing, but hopefully it is somewhere, and sooner rather than later.

Gaia stars Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex van Dyk, and Anthony Oseyemi.

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