Dare To Be Wild (film) and the Sublime

Dare To Be Wild is a film that speaks upon the sublime found in nature and the role of the artist in the midst of it. This film shares this theme through the story of Mary Reynolds who is an Irish woman with a passion for design, the wild and its beauty within it. The sublime mysteries of nature are depicted through the film's cinematography. The opening scene shows Mary Reynolds as a young girl running through the wild fields. As a child she is attune to the rawness of nature and its spiritual nature. She sees and hears the fairies that speak to her about its beauty and her future. One of the things that Mary believes to be true about nature is that "nature is man and man is nature" which touches upon Irish mysticism.

After a spiritual encounter in a dream where she feels called to apply to the Chelsea Garden Show which is known to be one of the most prestigious garden competitions in the UK. She has faith that she will win the show even though all of the odds seem against her. She goes on a sacred journey discovering that the purpose of being apart of such a prestigious show is to invite people into a space where they can encounter the raw beauty of nature. During her journey she meets Christy Collard who is also a kindred spirit to her passion for the natural world. But their values contrast when Mary asks Christy to help her with the garden show since he is the only one she knows that specializes in creating nature preserves and wildflowers. Christy rejects her offer because he doesn't believe in participating in a world where he believes nature becomes cheapened by man's tampering with constricting its wild nature. He doesn't see Mary's intention as an artist who desires to capture the feeling of the sublime found in nature through her garden design in order to invite others into its sacred space so that they may too find value in preserving the natural world. It isn't until later in the film when Christy as he falls in love with Mary sees her intention as truly pure.

One of the most visually stunning shots and depiction of the sublimity of nature was when Mary was sitting with Christy on an edge of cliff in Ethiopia. During her time in Ethiopia Mary's intention was to convince Christy about her vision for participating in the garden show. While she is with Christy they work together on preserving the natural earth of Ethiopia by planting trees and plants in the desert places. After working together they go to a cliff that overlooks the entire town and beyond. In the distance Mary sees lightning and clouds moving swiftly across the expanse of the sky. She jumps up and sees the desert flourish into a lush land. She exclaims with excitement that there will be life in the desert places and that she needs to help people see that which is why she must win the Chelsea Garden Show. At the end she does win and spends the night with Christy in her makeshift garden filled with her beloved Hawthorn trees which is symbolic of nature's duality according to Celtic myth.