On Saturday evening we went to see the film Grow Your Own at the Barbican Centre and we both really enjoyed it. It was a classic mix of light hearted comedy with the underlying sadness of the hardship experienced by those who were given a plot to help rehabilitate them following their recent traumas.
To give you an idea of what the film is about if you haven't already heard about it, here is an extract from the programme notes were we given at the Barbican about the film:
Inspired by a project in Liverpool that gives asylum seekers a chance to overcome their recent traumas through caring for an allotment, Grow Your Own is an uplifting comedy on the potential of multicultural Britain.
When recent immigrants are provided with plots on an allotment, its existing tenants, led by draconian ex-copper Big John, plot against the new arrivals. Will the old-timers and the new gardeners be able to find a way of living together?
Grow Your Own started out as a documentary project by screenwriter Carl Hunter and his partner Clare Heney. Their community-based production company was commissioned to make a short documentary about asylum seekers who'd been given allotment plots to help generate a sense of purpose and self-sufficiency by psychotherapist Margrit Ruegg. Gardening on the allotments gave the immigrants the confidence to open up and surmount the awful experiences they had endured.
The film was infused with the compelling real-life stories of those they had met on the Liverpool allotment.
There is also an official website for the film growyourownthemovie.co.uk
I thought Grow Your Own was a funny, heart-warming film and I would highly recommend going to see it if you can.
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