JAMES BROUGHTON THE GARDENER OF EDEN (1981)

Director: James Broughton

Year: 1981

Time: 8 mins

Music: Antarjyami Muni

Eye of Sound: A more typical Broughton film, The Gardener of Eden was shot and written in Sri Lanka in 1981 by Joel Singer and the director. The poem celebrates fertility, nature and sexuality, treated here as synonyms, as well as the "seeds of perennial affection" planted by the "gardener" in one of his dreams. Images of Bevis Bawa, the most famous horticulturist in Sri Lanka, portray him as the gardener or "the old dreamer who never sleeps". Footage of Lanka's luxurious nature merges with the faces of anonymous Lankans, thus placing them as a component of the garden itself. Antarjyami Muni's music,  played on twin conch shells, sounds much like a modern drone composition: hypnotic, continuous but with beautiful shifting tones and textures. The question Broughton asks is simple: if we had a vision of this perennial garden, "where the beds are laid for love", could we "wake to the innocent morning" and join the dance? As Broughton argues, the garden is just here, so the decision is ours.

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