Ethan Lee

Kiss the Ground is a film that really illuminates just how much of a large difference any one individual can make. Directors Josh and Rebecca Tickell amass an impressive collection of Hollywood notables like Tom Brady, Jason Mraz, or its narrator Woody Harrelson, it can get tiring hearing from wealthy celebrities about how easy it is to just start your own eco-friendly farm, for example. While these are no doubt actions that should be commended, they are things that exist outside of much of our doability. Refreshingly, this film also highlights smaller figures that are just as environmentally concerned yet, in their inventiveness and creativity, just as effective. One of these is rancher Gabe Brown, whose farm is so green, fertile, and luscious, the contrast between it and an adjacent farm captured beautifully within a shot by cinematographer Simon Balderas is almost startling. Brown did not achieve this through some new technology or a hefty sum of money, but rather studied up on the writings of Thomas Jefferson and how agriculture was done before its dependency on chemicals, and the results of his alternative yet more natural farming style are as Jefferson himself would say, “self-evident”. Another featured activist is Detroiter, Pashon Murray, who independently gathers compost materials by raiding food scraps from restaurants and feces from the zoo. Her actions show that even without overbearing legal mandates like the ones in San Diego also featured with in the film, that individuals can of their own volition still be effective in changing the world, and Kiss the Ground not only illuminates this truth but reinvigorates a passion for an environment we thought lost and encourages its viewers that the ability to make change lies within us all.