The Man Who Planted Trees

Frederic Back is one of the wonders that happened to the Animation Film making.
I saw his film `Crac' in 1988 for the first time and after that I fell in love with this `man who planted trees' of wisdom.
He falls under the category of animators like Ishu Patel (Paradise), Bill Plimpton (Your face), Jacques Drouin (Mindscape), Gayle Thomas (A Sufi Tale), Jerzy kucia (Reflections) & Yuri Norstein (tale of tales).

This Deluxe Edition has got all his nine films. One could see how Frederic Back evolved as an animation film-maker through the decades of his continuous passion and hard work.

In fact I haven't read the book "The man who planted trees" by Jean Giono. But Frederic Back's film is very inspiring and thought provoking. While I was watching the film, I felt that the protagonist `shepherd' was none other than Frederic Back himself. He says in one of his interviews that "People who don't experience misery, who have no contact with what really is the bottom of life cannot paint, cannot write with the same depth as people who have experienced". One could see his roots and childhood experiences in his own work. That's how his work has more personal touch. In all his films specially, Crac, The Mighty River and The Man Who Planted Trees we can see Frederic Back's deep concern and love for nature. As far as beauty is concerned, I don't think there is anybody in the animation world who could visualize more beautifully than Frederic Back. His aesthetics are amazing. The technique he chooses for most of his films is also very time consuming and painstaking. He renders (hatching style) each and every frame. Most of his later films have certain lyrical beauty in the flow of animation. The colors and treatment are similar to Marc Chagall, Odilon Redon and some of impressionists.

Like the Shepherd in the The Man Who Planted Trees, even Frederic Back must have made this film without expecting any reward just for the sake of sheer joy and also to help make people realize the necessity to protect the nature. But in the end of everything, rewards (Oscar awards) followed him.

I was disappointed and disgusted beyond words to see the packaging of this four disc set containing the exceptional work of Frederick Back. Inspite of pricing it exorbitantly high, the company didnt even bother to keep all four discs in separate cases. In fact, all the four discs are rather clogged in one single case, with two on each side, overlapping each other. So everytime you want to watch disc2, you need to remove disc1 first. Same for the other two discs, on the other side, too. There's also a risk of the discs getting damaged since they overlap partly.

I was actually expecting the packaging to be similar to the one released by CBC radio, Canada wherein all four discs come beautifully packaged in separate cases with beautiful artwork by the artist on each cover. Also all the four discs come housed in one great slipcover which again has beautiful artwork on it. Unfortunately it wasnt the case here.

It is rather shocking and disappointing to see companies such as this one, busy making money in the name of great artists, without actually having any respect for art or whatsoever.

What an insult to a great artist and his work.

If you care about the nature, humanity, or you just want to watch a good/quite European animation movie. You must see it.
Since I watched this movie, it makes me feel more connected with the environmental issue we are facing now. I even started to love Oak trees.
Whenever I pass any Oak trees, it always reminds me the movie.
It's based on the true story which makes it even more fascinated.
Just go to library or DVD rental store to rent it. Or, just buy it. It's 100% worth your time and money.

As a high school principal, I used The Man Who Planted Trees as part of teacher staff development. The story's theme of how one person can make a difference serves as a reminder to all teachers that they have the power of miracles in their hands. They can influence the future more than any other profession, and because of that influence they have the power to change the world. The Man Who Planted Trees should be required viewing and reading in every school and every profession. This is a beautiful story that needs to be shared over and over again.

Others have listed the contents, so I won't bother. I bought this on the strength of two shorts-Crac! and The Man Who Planted Trees, both of which I have on VHS, but wanted on DVD. I figured anything else was a bonus. All nine of the animated shorts are good to excellent, but I now have two more reasons to be delighted to have bought this set: All Nothing and The Mighty River. The Mighty River is almost as incredible as The Man Who Planted Trees. It deserves to be more widely known than it is.Everything on the set is worth checking out, but most especially watch the various Photo Galleries. The detail is all the more impressive in stills. A most highly recommended set.