Gaia

A beautiful opening series of shots over a forest canopy which we see are part of forest rangers Gabi (Monique Rockman) and Winston (Anthony Oseyemi) highly technical survey operation as the patrol in their small motorboat down a river deep into the forest.

The drone is taken out by a human hand which leads Gabi to insist on going ashore to look for it, against Winston’s advice - who later goes ashore too. It’s good advice as we see two eco-warrior/survivalist types setting a trap that impales Gabi.

Hearing Gabi’s screams of pain Winston tries to find her location. Meantime Gabi has managed to remove the spike from her foot and found her way to a cabin. Into which come Stefan (Alex Van Dyk) and his father Barend (Carel Nel) covered in muddy rags. Speaking in Afrikaans they settle and treat Gabi’s wound.

There’s mistrust between the three in the hut as it slowly becomes clear to Gabi that they are not alone in the wilderness, and that the men fear it. Inside there’s possibly things to fear too as changing between Afrikaans and English Barend begins to espouse his background and his worldly manic philosophy. Meanwhile Winston is quickly finding out what is in the forest.

Gaia had its UK premiere at FrightFest and is something of environmental and hallucinatory trip as Gabi is fed magic mushrooms while Barend waxes lyrical about the mother of creation and human destruction of the planet.

With monsters outside and possibly inside director Jaco Bouwer creates a dense paranoia and claustrophobia as Gabi tries to understand Barend. Which, despite whatever sympathy she may have with his theories, is a means to an end and to escape.

The message of the film is straight up green and how humanity is destroying the planet, with the planet now taking its revenge or now putting up a defence. That’s once the viewer has wadded through Barend’s fanatical monologues, trashing modern culture and its disposable short termism.

While no one is really going to complain about the central message and direction of the story written by Tertius Kapp, it feels padded at times and leaden. The photography of the forest is however ravishing; beautifully blended with some glorious images and effects as the forest comes to deadly life.

Gaia will be available on Altitude.film and other digital platforms from 27 September.