Even Though the Whole World Is Burning (2014)

EVEN THOUGH THE WHOLE WORLD IS 
BURNING                                   (2014)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Stefan C. Schaefer
"On the last day of the world," the poet W.S. Merwin wrote, "I would want to plant a tree." Merwin's in his late 80s now, and blind, living out the time that remains in the palm forest he planted on Maui, waiting, as my nephew on the island likes to say, to become an ancestor, to join the spirit world. This documentary catches up with Merwin a little earlier in his journey, in France and Hawaii, reading, writing, studying, and talking about his life, work, activism, and the critical importance of environmental stewardship. It's an intelligent portrait of a singular human being, a man who's had the talent, audacity and luck to spend a lifetime creating and exploring, pretty much on his own terms, and to accomplish something lasting and worthwhile in the process. You don't have to be a poet, or even know much about poetry, to be inspired by Merwin's passion for his work, or impressed with is life and legacy. If everybody in the world had this much charisma, we'd have to redefine the word, or find a whole new one. And at last report, Merwin was still planting trees.