The
English are inveterate gardeners, proud of turning adverse
soil into lush and manicured panoramas of color. Based on
a true story, Greenfingers focuses on Colin
Briggs (played by Clive Owen), who has spent much of his life
in prison for accidentally murdering his brother who was sleeping
with his girlfriend. One day he is transferred to Edgefield,
a prison without walls, under the compassionate supervision
of Governor Hodge (played by Warren Clarke). Every inmate
must perform work so that he will have job experience upon
release. Indifferent to the new surroundings, he refuses to
volunteer for any assignment, despite friendly advice from
his roommate Fergus Wilks (played by David Kelly). Accordingly,
Hodge assigns him to building maintenance, the least desirable
option. At Christmas, Wilks gives Briggs a seed packet. Briggs
plants the seeds in a space protected by several trees, and
in the spring lovely flowers emerge. One day, a soccer ball
hits the flowers, to Briggs’s chagrin. When he expresses
displeasure, the inmate stomps on the flowers, occasioning
a scuffle. However, Hodge now realizes that Briggs has ambitions
of being a gardener, so he is reassigned to the job along
with his soccer-playing friends. In due course, the grounds
at Edgefield are transformed miraculously into a beautiful
garden, a fact that comes to the attention of Georgina Woodhouse
(played by Helen Mirren), the author of many books on gardening
and narrator of the television show on the annual Hampton
Court gardening competition. She promises them a chance to
exhibit at the next competition, while her daughter Primrose
(played by Natasha Little) falls in love with Briggs. On Georgina’s
recommendation, two male lovers hire the inmates to create
a garden for them, but when one is falsely accused of stealing
a priceless work of art, he escapes, and the chance for the
Hampton Court exhibition is canceled. Briggs is paroled, but
commits the same crime to return to Edgefield so that he can
resume gardening. The following year, the inmates are allowed
to exhibit at Hampton Court. When they do not win a prize,
they are disappointed, as is Hodge. Summoned by the queen,
who believes that they were robbed of the top honors, the
film ends as they are escorted into Hampton Court Palace and
titles tell us that subsequently prison inmates won many awards
in gardening competitions. Interestingly, before the screening,
I had a discussion with a person in the row in front of me
about the death penalty. I disagreed as she opined that murderers
should be executed, using eye-for-an-eye logic, believing
that their lives served no useful purpose after they were
convicted. The movie that we were about to see, I then indicated,
might have something on the subject. Indeed, she was nonplused
by the message of the film. Directed by Joel Hershman, the
Political Film Society has nominated Greenfingers
for best film exposé and best film on human rights.
MH
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