Gaia. 2021. South Africa. Directed by Jaco Bouwer. Screenplay by Tertius Kapp. With Monique Rockman, Carel Nel, Alex van Dyk and Anthony Oseyemi. In English, Afrikaans; English subtitles. 96 min.
This South African ecological horror film is a gorgeous, gross, hallucinatory trip that takes people back, literally, into the Earth. The title itself, meaning “Earth,” refers to the Gaianist belief that humans are not the center of all being, nor are we necessary for evolution, and the film resonates all the more amid the increasing effects of climate change and the global pandemic. When a pair of park rangers on a routine survey wind up in the forest to retrieve a drone, they encounter father and son off-the-grid survivalists and fungal beasts that alter their perception—and their bodies. Nodding to the 1963 Japanese horror film Matango (1963), Gaia imagines a literal return to the earth—a re-rooting of “us” back into the soil—and provides a solemn reminder of our place in the universe.