Dare to Be Wild (2015) User Reviews

I love nature!

[chenggaga · 7/10 · 14 March 2017]

This movie is so beautiful, based on a true story.

this movie shows you the true beauty of the wild nature.

This sappy, in every sense, based-on-a-true story drama tells the story of how Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds (played by Emma Greenwell) came to compete at the 2002 Chelsea flower show. Reynolds' entry was a Celtic-themed space made with mature hawthorn trees, weathered stone, wildflowers and lots of waffle about the sanctity of untamed nature. The underlying Eco-message is laudable, and the filmmakers deserve respect for getting a movie about garden design financed at all, but they do lay the sentiment on thick with a bulldozer, smothering the good bits with a dense compost of mawkishness and cliché. Consequently, Reynolds comes across here not just as an iconoclastic outsider but as a hippie sprite with Timotei-advert hair who must go to battle with the punctilious tweed-suited upper-class twits who control the Chelsea floor show. Meanwhile, her romantic entanglement with garden builder and part-time fiddle-player Christy Collard (Tom Hughes) becomes an Out of Africa-style love across continents. At least the gardens are, as you would expect, spectacularly beautiful.

Thanks to the Japaness writer who still works for Utopia and donating money.

A lost opportunity

[jandrews-956-907469 · 2/10 · 27 May 2018]

This had a great message but it became lost along the way. Although said to be based on the true achievements of Mary Reynolds, the effect of the "fairies" was disastrous on the plot line, stretching credibility to breaking point.

Despite the fast pace and frenetic editing, what could have still been salvageable with the apparent sincerity of the female lead and supporting cast was rendered a lost cause by the appalling male lead with no character depth at all whose chief contribution was a succession of attempts at smouldering looks that became incredibly annoying.

Of course, all films are built on an investment of time, talent, money, and emotion and so it is difficult to be negative about the hard work that goes into them. However, in this film the potential was simply not realized.

Really Beautiful

[columbialuver · 8/10 · 23 May 2019]

Such a shame the criticism of this film. I found it a lovely story, and it wasn't fiction, but based on a real woman who dared greatly to be different. I, for one, found it beautifully inspiring. Yes, the odd "fairy" stuff that popped in briefly a couple times was a little hokey, if you even notice it, but I found it a symbolic representation of her profound positivity & spirit which drove her forward. I didn't find her mopey or begging: each challenge she faced with surprising optimism & brave problem-solving to do what she did. Her designs are modest & inspired. Truly different

I liked It Until...

[twelve-house-books · 4/10 · 13 March 2021]

I was really enjoying this film as a biopic of someone I'd never heard of before, until she shows up at the Collard farm (Future Forests) in Bantry, and then things got weird because Mike Collard is in no way an odd hipster dude. I worked at Future Forests for a week. He's a hardworking typical Englishman, and his wife Cathy a typical homemaker. Christy wasn't there when I was there, so I borrowed his bed. He had a little sister who was about five, maybe seven. I give four stars, but would have given more if the director had not re-created these folks into peculiar oddballs.

A beautiful, refreshing, inspiring film!

[brukey · 10/10 · 3 April 2018]

I absolutely loved this film and was pleasantly surprised to see the part on the travel to Lalibela! The film might be based on a true story, about the adventures of a young, nature loving Irish woman who sets out to create and preserve natural sacred spaces (i.e. Celtic Sanctuary, etc.) The story takes place in Ireland, England, and in the high-hills of Ethiopia at a sacred site called Lalibela. For those with green sensibilities and appreciation for travel, especially to remote places that we don't get much exposed to, then this film is quite a treat! The landscape in the high-hills of Ethiopia, the natural lifestyles, the people, the costumes, the religious ceremonies etc. were all beautiful to see. The film is well done with a great cast and its message is simple but potent.

Excellent message doesn't do enough to distract from this rather terrible movie

[SmellyCactus · 3/10 · 16 January 2020]

'Dare to Be Wild' was so clumsy in its sentimentality and over-the-top ridiculous in how it portrayed the uptight gardeners and clients that the message of supporting wild areas was almost entirely lost.

A movie about the incredible importance of our connection to nature

[bondcassie · 10/10 · 7 March 2017]

Nature is mankinds way of being able to feel something that is completely lost in our modern world. New Yorkers get fearful when they go into national parks. This is because they have become so disconnected with the energy of nature they see it as a threat. This movie is a sweet way of showing that connection. Without this connection to the wild, our world is dying because we didn't know how important it is. This movie has been canned by reviewers who themselves are disconnected. If you can understand what I am saying then ignore their reviews and watch this movie. This movie also demonstrates the strength of goals, goals that are for all humanity not just for the the greedy few.

Go into to Nature and Seek the Divine

[revjimbeau · 8/10 · 5 June 2018]

I don't see any discrepancy between God and nature as do some of the reviewers. This is a film that invites the viewer to explore and appreciate the natural world in all it wildness. I love to go into nature and live on the ocean surrounded by beautiful green mountains. I go into nature and feel at one with it as I open to being at one with the Creator of all worlds. Natural Love and Divine Love go hand in hand for me and I respect those who disagree. A wonderful film in its essence with a message that at its core is love.

Underestimated!

[serri_griisen · 8/10 · 14 September 2018]

I don't use to like dramas, but this film is so wonderful! Great acting, it captures you and gives you a kind of magical feeling. You can do whatever you want!! It has a great message and is beautiful!

Good movie. Great message.

[helen-42204 · 10/10 · 5 June 2018]

I didnt know anything about the movie going in as it was suggested to me on Netflix. So it wasn't until the ending notes that I knew it was based on a true story's

The movie has a great message based on the dreams of the heroine and hero... Mary and Christy of being able to replant the earth from what climate change and modern development has deprived areas and our memories from the beauty of nature.

The romance aspect was nicely organic and grew as they realized they were sharing the same ideas and dreams.

Anyway, in short. I liked it. Great work for first time director Vivienne and I also enjoyed the cinematography.

A perfect movie!

[mhunter627 · 10/10 · 18 February 2024]

There's not one single thing I would change about this movie. I was just marveling all the way through it. It was like an answer to a prayer. Mine, of course! What if we all dared to be wild? What if we dared to believe in our beautiful, sweet dreams? What if we made the world a little bit better place to live?

The music, cinematography the settings, the acting the casting the plot were all perfect! I think anyone who hates on this movie has lost their way, which is kind of the message of the movie, so maybe it rubbed them the wrong way. I've never been sad or depressed that I didn't go outside and sit in the sun in the grass, and find a place of bliss.

It inspired me to go and do what I came here to do. Live life fully. Dare to be wild!

You know what George Orwell, Emerson, William Wordsworth elucidated

[karishmaroy · 10/10 · 8 April 2018]

This movie touches the pagan sensibilities of Nature / Prakriti, which may not go down well with many 'believers'who have been taught that such concepts are satanic. To worship and believe in the power of Mother Nature is anti-God. Though not a perfect movie, it does bring out the essence of the wilderness and its need for life to survive on this planet. These concepts have always existed, even when the messiahs were not here to make people believe in the Hell, the superior God (without a Goddess) and the pagans to be the heathens/satanic. This movie shows there's hope in a revival of the 'forgotten times', as rightly said by Ms. Reynolds.