Pedro Silos irrigates his new planting in part of the 14-acre plot in South Los
Angeles that was the subject of Scott Hamilton Kennedy's Oscar-nominated
documentary. Photo courtesy of Black Valley Films.

Scott Hamilton Kennedy's The Garden begins beautifully. 

A man awakes, makes coffee and rides a bus through a desolate pre-dawn urban landscape.  He arrives at an industrial-looking gate and pulls it open to reveal an unexpected world. Inside, children play in the shade while farmers till the land, plant seeds and water the fertile soil. 

Suddenly, the camera pulls back to reveal the fact that these small demonstrations of agricultural bliss are taking place in a large garden.

The camera pulls back again. The garden is a massive 14-acre green space in the heart of South Los Angeles.

The camera pulls back. And back. And back. For a moment it looks like we could see the garden from space.

The Garden lets viewers explore a modern Eden that was built to help heal South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. Community Activist Doris Block allotted the farmers, who are mostly Latino, parcels of land and began to transform the empty lot into an urban agricultural utopia. 

Suddenly, the tenants received a mysterious eviction notice from the landowner, Ralph Horowitz. But a little research reveals that something smells rotten about their expulsion from the Promised Land.

This classic conflict in which the underdogs take on the pit bulls at City Hall "had so many amazing qualities of a great Los Angeles story, a great American story," Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy said in a phone interview.

The labyrinthine plot of land upon which Kennedy's documentary takes place is a perfect metaphor for the film itself. The story contains more twists than a mystery novel, and the characters are more layered than the onions they might cultivate.

"I try to get a piece of their soul and a piece of their truth in this story," Kennedy said about the protagonists.

Juanita Tate, a community activist who one character describes as a "poverty pimp," wants to build a soccer field after the garden is bulldozed. But examining another soccer park she helped construct is unsettling. It is just a dirt lot with a single portable toilet.

Rufina Juarez is a farmer with a gift for organization that helps her lead the gardeners to City Hall. But her leadership proves divisive and almost tears the community of farmers apart.

And some of the characters are people you might already know. 

There's an odd moment with actress Daryl Hannah in which she looms over one of the farmers and flirts with him in broken Spanish.
 
Willie Nelson appears in one scene, dancing enthusiastically at a fundraising event.
Even Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has a cameo, making public proclamations in support of the farmers but proving to be ineffectual at the last moment.
 
Kennedy uses traditional pacing to give the four-year long battle a recognizable composition.  "I have a huge love for classic three act structure. It worked for Shakespeare, so what the heck," Kennedy said.

He doesn't see himself as the typical auteur. His hand lies strongest in the editing process and the story's rhythm, but "any decision I make that takes the audience out of the film is a mistake," Kennedy said.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, however, Kennedy's film succeeds at a deeper level than straightforward reporting.

The farmers' key activist, Juarez, is interviewed at such a tight angle that her wide-brimmed hat fills the entire frame. This directorial decision allows the viewers to get to know and sympathize with her.

In contrast, the soccer field-activist Tate sits in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, snarling. Her exaggerated position reflects her distorted view of reality.

Even Tate's ally in City Hall, Jan Perry, is filmed off-center with City Hall looming like an omnipresent threat over her shoulder.

Kennedy worked on the film for four years, struggling to keep the "emotional and physical wherewithal to stay with it."

"The film has swallowed me whole and spit me up," Kennedy said.

His hard work earned him an Oscar nod. 

And the film was re-released just Friday--in time for the tail end of Earth Week.

But Kennedy hopes the timely narrative will remain timeless. 

"I hope people will be able to watch this film 20 years from now," he said. "It's just a great story."