Hempsters: Plant the Seed

by: Brent Simon
Source: shockya.com

Another recent documentary that tackles a social issue (sort of) is “Hempsters: Plant the Seed,” about the fight not for legalized marijuana, but industrial grade hemp, which is actually used in over two dozen industrialized nations (including our neighbor to the north), and widely known to have numerous enviromental advantages, but still banned here in the United States. 

Director Michael Henning’s film takes as its crusading subjects a collection of activists — including Woody Harrelson, Ralph Nader and others — and builds a fairly persuasive case for both hemp being entirely different from recreational marijuana (they’re plants of the same family, but have vastly different levels of THC, and other important differences) and a crop with real value and benefits. It does all this almost in spite of itself, however, as it’s assembled in a jumbled-together manner that does its narrative clarity of focus or overall mission statement much good.

Instead, it’s the straight information and agricultural science that tend to win out, bolstered by an understanding of the vested interest that petro-chemical companies and mono-culture corporate farms have in stamping out the ability of independent growers to work this durable multi-purpose crop, and serve it to various industries. 

More than anything, moneyed interests typically abhor an even playing field; they want to stay on top. “Hempsters” shuffles fitfully to and fro and could use an independent eye in the editing room, but there’s a stamp of swaggering personality on the film (Willie Nelson and especially Gatewood Galbraith, an independent candidate for Kentucky’s gubernatorial office, assure if of that) that makes sure it’s neither some staid policy-advocacy flick, nor a stoned bong-lover’s protest tract. 

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, “Hempsters” comes to DVD on a region-free disc. Supplementary features include seven minutes of movie clips highlighting reasons for hemp legalization, a two-and-a-half-minute alternate introduction, a collection of trailers, and an extended scene featuring activist Craig Lee. For more information, visit www.hempstersthemovie.com.