Movie Review - Kiss the Ground

Director: Joshua Tickell, Rebecca Harrell Tickell  
Genre: Documentary
Runtime: 84 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Ray Archuleta, Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, Patricia Arquette, David Arquette, Jason Mraz, Rosario Dawson, Ian Somerhalder

Description: A revolutionary group of activist, scientist, farmers, and politicians band together in a global movement of “Regenerative Agriculture” that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies and feed the world.

Review: “This is the story of a simple solution, a way to heal our planet”, says actor Woody Harrelson, narrator in the Netflix documentary “Kiss the Ground”. That sounds hopeful and it is, although the first 25 minutes are far from uplifting. Because before we get to the solution, we get an explanation in detail how we ended up here and where things went wrong. In short: pesticides, monoculture and industrialized agriculture.
Because we started ploughing and spraying with chemicals, we killed the microbes in the soil. No healthy soul without microbes. And without healthy soil the CO2, which is normally stored in the soil in large quantities, goes back into the atmosphere. Desertification occurs, driving 40 million people from their land every year. If we continue like this, y 2050 there will be about a billion people on the run as a result of desertification. So much for a brief summary of the first 25 minutes of misery.
No crisis is so great or there are always people out there who won’t give up says Woody Harrelson. For example, we see a regenerative farmer from North Dakota, who saw his harvest fail year after year to due extreme weather conditions. Until one day he ran out of money to buy fertilizer and pesticides and was forced to seek refuge in regenerative agriculture. Not only has he been doing well financially since then, but you can also see a clear difference between his lusg green land and the parched land of his neighbor.  
There is also the story of Loess Plateau in China. Once the most dehydrated and neglected piece of land on earth, until scientist started restoring the land. The images before and after show how a dusty void can turn into a true green paradise.
Besides Woody Harrelson narrating the documentary, lots of famous stars join him in the fight for a better planet. Supermodel Gisele Bündchen and her husband, American footbale player Tom Brady, singer Jason Mraz and actors Ian Somerhalder, Patricia Arquette, David Arquette and Rosario Dawson. All of them know how important our soil is and found a way to help our planet. As Patricia Arquette is committed to compost toilets.
Overall, “Kiss the Ground” is a very interesting documentary and an eye-opener.

Rating: 3,5 / 5