The Botany of Desire

 Having run through most of the Netflix catalogue of films that I have either seen or dismissed, I was recently piqued by a documentary first released by PBS entitled, "The Botany of Desire," based on the book of the same name by Michael Pollan. In short, this brilliant doc elegantly demonstrates how four plant species have manipulated human beings to serve their evolutionary ends. "Little Shop of Horrors'" Audrey II turns out to be more terrestrial in origin. Not so blood-thirsty, either, but from a plant's point of view, just as greedy and self-serving. The apple, the tulip, the potato and cannabis are all thriving species by having developed strategies to disperse their genes by appealing to our species' aesthetic, gustatory, economic, and hedonistic desires. (Wiley lil' devils...)
The film is so well done, you'll forget you're watching a documentary (or PBS), and you'll come away with some great trivia about such things as 1. Where did apples originate? (Answer: Not the Garden of Eden.) 2. What caused the world's first capitalistic speculative bubble? (Answer: The Tulip, 1634.) 3. What plant changed human history more than any other? (Answer: The Potato. Providing enough calories in a half acre to sustain a family for an entire year.) 4. What research has been profoundly advanced by pot? (Answer: The neurophysiology of memory.)
I confess, it is the first time that I have thought about being manipulated by a plant. And I'm a florist.

You will really enjoy this film.
View "The Botany of Desire" online...