Dare to Be Wild

I absolutely loved this film and was pleasantly surprised to see the part on the travel to Lalibela! The film might be based on a true story, about the adventures of a young, nature loving Irish woman who sets out to create and preserve natural sacred spaces (i.e. Celtic Sanctuary, etc.) The story takes place in Ireland, England, and in the high-hills of Ethiopia at a sacred site called Lalibela. For those with green sensibilities and appreciation for travel, especially to remote places that we don't get much exposed to, then this film is quite a treat! The landscape in the high-hills of Ethiopia, the natural lifestyles, the people, the costumes, the religious ceremonies etc. were all beautiful to see. The film is well done with a great cast and its message is simple but potent.

I don't see any discrepancy between God and nature as do some of the reviewers. This is a film that invites the viewer to explore and appreciate the natural world in all it wildness. I love to go into nature and live on the ocean surrounded by beautiful green mountains. I go into nature and feel at one with it as I open to being at one with the Creator of all worlds. Natural Love and Divine Love go hand in hand for me and I respect those who disagree. A wonderful film in its essence with a message that at its core is love.

This had a great message but it became lost along the way. Although said to be based on the true achievements of Mary Reynolds, the effect of the "fairies" was disastrous on the plot line, stretching credibility to breaking point.

Despite the fast pace and frenetic editing, what could have still been salvageable with the apparent sincerity of the female lead and supporting cast was rendered a lost cause by the appalling male lead with no character depth at all whose chief contribution was a succession of attempts at smouldering looks that became incredibly annoying.

Of course, all films are built on an investment of time, talent, money, and emotion and so it is difficult to be negative about the hard work that goes into them. However, in this film the potential was simply not realized.

'Dare to Be Wild' was so clumsy in its sentimentality and over-the-top ridiculous in how it portrayed the uptight gardeners and clients that the message of supporting wild areas was almost entirely lost.

This movie is so beautiful, based on a true story.

this movie shows you the true beauty of the wild nature.

This sappy, in every sense, based-on-a-true story drama tells the story of how Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds (played by Emma Greenwell) came to compete at the 2002 Chelsea flower show. Reynolds' entry was a Celtic-themed space made with mature hawthorn trees, weathered stone, wildflowers and lots of waffle about the sanctity of untamed nature. The underlying Eco-message is laudable, and the filmmakers deserve respect for getting a movie about garden design financed at all, but they do lay the sentiment on thick with a bulldozer, smothering the good bits with a dense compost of mawkishness and cliché. Consequently, Reynolds comes across here not just as an iconoclastic outsider but as a hippie sprite with Timotei-advert hair who must go to battle with the punctilious tweed-suited upper-class twits who control the Chelsea floor show. Meanwhile, her romantic entanglement with garden builder and part-time fiddle-player Christy Collard (Tom Hughes) becomes an Out of Africa-style love across continents. At least the gardens are, as you would expect, spectacularly beautiful.

Thanks to the Japaness writer who still works for Utopia and donating money.