“How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?” as Judy Garland once sang. Doesn’t seem like it’ll be much of a challenge with actor and director Rachel Ward, and you can see why as her new film, Rachel’s Farm, arrives in New Zealand cinemas on September 14.
Rachel and her family—including husband Bryan Brown and daughter Matilda Brown, who both appear—have owned a small farm in Australia’s Nambucca Valley for over 30 years. But they came within spitting distance of losing it during 2019’s horrific Black Summer bushfires, only narrowly saving the house. Then the floods came…
Staring the devastating effects of climate change right in the eyeball, with trusty farm manager Mick Green at her side, Ward began to look into the concept of “regenerative farming”—agricultural practices intended to revitalise the land—and sets about transforming the family property into a sustainable going concern.
Which could, in the wrong hands, be as dull as dishwater. But Ward is a gifted filmmaker, and what unfolds is a gumboots on the ground look at how steering away from orthodox farming practices, with their reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides, can yield dividends—as long as you’re prepared to put in the hard yards. The effects of agriculture on the health of the planet are a pressing concern, and since we’re not about to stop eating anytime soon, more harmonious farming techniques need to be investigated.
And so, we follow Ward as she rolls up her sleeves and digs into the task at hand, and we learn as she learns how to heal her homestead. While we’ve had our fair share of ecological documentaries in recent years, they can be a depressing watch—impending doom will have that effect. Rachel’s Farm, however, offers a hopeful vision of the future. We could certainly use that.
