The Garden (2008)
Black Valley Films

Description

The fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.

But now, bulldozers are poised to level their 14-acre oasis.

The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers:

Tags

Oscar nomination, 2000s, 1990s, Immigration, South Central, Los Angeles, Farming, Poverty

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

It’s tempting to call “The Garden” a story of innocence and experience, of evil corrupting paradise, but that would be doing a disservice to the fascinating complexities of a classic Los Angeles conflict and an excellent documentary that does them full justice.
Read full review (DVD)

8.0 Celcias | Leslie Berliant

Ultimately though, The Garden is not about the farm. The Garden is about the underclass in American society. It is the story of the way our cities treat immigrant populations, of backroom politics, of land developers with little conscience.
Read full review (Cinema)