Review: Sedona International Film Festival Presents A CRACK IN THE MOUNTAIN ~Where A Dreamland Confronts Reality

For the first half hour of Alastair Evans's epic documentary, A CRACK IN THE MOUNTAIN, one might presume that the filmmaker had crafted a spectacular travelogue, surpassing the likes of a National Geographic or PBS Nature production.

The film, five years in the making, zooms in on the grandeur of Hang Sơn Đoòng, reputed to be "the world's largest cave." Located in Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, this magnificent geological wonder is a complex of spectacular formations, soaring stalagmites, cave pearls, phytokarst, waterfalls, and underground rainforests.

Evans and cinematographer Ryan Deboodt capture its full majesty and brilliance ~ notwithstanding the subterranean conditions and dim lighting of the area ~ with the benefit of remarkable advancements in digital camera technology.

The viewer becomes a fellow traveler with the expedition team as it traverses time- and raindrop-worn steps, rappels and spelunks through the expanses and narrows of the place, and shares their end-of-day observations in the comfort of their encampment.

One cannot help but feel the privilege and excitement ~ the wonderment and risks ~ of the adventure. The superlatives of interviewed visitors to the site ~ magical, remarkable, dramatic, indescribable, otherworldly ~ cannot capture the wondrous nature of this environmental treasure.

However, in the 33rd minute of the film, Evans makes a profound shift in the focus of the film that makes it even more compelling and concerning.

The camera turns to the bustling metropolis and man-made skyscrapers of Ho Chi Minh City where Hương Nguyễn Thiên Lê, the co-founder of Save Son Đoòng, speaks to the vulnerability of such treasures in the face of encroaching development. (Her initiative was spurred by the proposal in 2014 to build a cable car into Sơn Đoòng ~ now, deferred to 2030!)

The film embarks on a new adventure ~ this, an incisive exploration of a community's effort to balance the economic benefits of development against the imperative of environmental preservation. For a people who have suffered the ravages of war, disease, and poverty, the promises of economic development and employment opportunities are seductive.

The film does not blink at the dilemma. It goes lens-wide-open in exposing the potential threats to the sanctity of this pristine environment.

In one poignant interview after another, the dilemma is revealed. The voices of respondents are conflicted.

Some sense that the monuments to nature's grace will likely be overtaken by development, regardless of the social and environmental costs. The experience of similar locations in other parts of the world, as one astute and skeptical observer notes, is that natures gems get "pretty well trampled" by the conglomerates and their governmental accomplices.

Many hope that community engagement and local entrepreneurship will provide a pathway to economic freedom; that leveraging ecotourism and striving for eco-friendly and sustainable development ~ accompanied by employment opportunities ~ will soften the blow and be seen by the government as apolitical and good for the country.

Still others fear that progress may be stemmed by the nation's governing body, the Communist Party of Vietnam, if progressive initiatives are perceived as threats to their authority. Ample evidence is provided of the government's repressive tactics. The government's ownership of the land has spawned a parallel land rights movement.

The tensions between possibility and reality are palpable in this film. There is a people's will for change, their aspirations lately blunted by floods, the pandemic, and governmental restrictions. What investments they have made in self-empowerment and what loan obligations they have are at risk. Yet, there remains the aspirations and dreams of a historically resilient people.

A CRACK IN THE MOUNTAIN is a portal to understanding the balances to be negotiated in a dynamic and ever-changing world. It is an experience that enables the viewer to become a fellow-traveler to an edenic world, all the while appreciating what is at risk and what obligations we have to protect, preserve and sustain it. As Bill Stone, CEO of Stone Aerospace, observes, this, what lies under ground, is "the last terrestrial frontier." Let's treat it with reverence.

A CRACK IN THE MOUNTAIN (1 hour 55 minutes run time) is one of the featured screenings and a definite must-see at this year's Sedona International Film Festival (February 19th-27th).

Sedona International Film Festival ~ https://sedonafilmfestival.com/ ~ 928-282-1177 ~ 2030 W. State Route 89A, Suite B-2, Sedona, AZ

Photo credit to Marlovski Media

To post a comment, you must register and login.