Wilding follows a landscape transformed through a decision to stop managing it in the usual agricultural way. David Allen's documentary makes that gradual change visually striking and emotionally engaging.
Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell face a struggling estate at Knepp. Rather than continuing intensive farming, they allow a different relationship with animals and vegetation to develop. The film observes the return of variety and the practical challenge of abandoning established expectations.
Tim Cragg and Simon de Glanville's patient images emphasize detail as well as beauty. The appearance of different animals and the release of a beaver give the transformation a tangible scale. Change becomes something to watch unfold rather than only a claim within a conversation.
The documentary also considers the difficulty of breaking with tradition. Tree and Burrell's decisions face resistance, making the relationship between people and the environment more substantial than a sequence of attractive nature shots. The atmospheric music supports the gradual rhythm.
For me, the film succeeds through its connection between observation and hope. It makes the landscape's response involving without losing the people whose decisions shaped the project. Wilding is a visually impressive, moving documentary about allowing space for a damaged environment to develop in another direction.