Watching: Undergrowth

Overview

Undergrowth (Maleza) is a brief exploration of one of the most destructive consequences of rural depopulation and abandonment: forest fires. It does so, specifically, by focusing on the destructive power of the undergrowth—a suffocating thicket of ‘weeds’ caused by the rural exodus—which, as the story unfolds, takes over the image itself to destroy it completely. Using the subjectivity of an anonymous woman who still lives in her native village as a narrative vehicle, Undergrowth plays with multiple audiovisual formats, ranging from home videos to short animated sequences, as well as more conceptual scenes.