Brian Miles

“Lisa Merton and Alan Dater’s documentary shows how one person can change the face of the Earth, giving environmentalism and activism a face other than Al Gore or Michael Moore. That person is Wangari Maathai, a native Kenyan who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to inspire local women to replenish the once thriving forests surrounding their villages. Defying the forces of colonialism and the crown-backed Moi government, the U.S.-educated Maathai began teaching the people about their rights and spoke out against Kenya’s ruling dictatorship at enormous personal risk. From this affectionate, rousing portrait, the Nobel Prize winner emerges as a warm, humble, but unstoppable advocate for human rights—proof that one small voice of dissent can shake nations. It’s news we need to hear.”

Brian Miles
Nashville Scene