Written and directed by Sasha Wortzel, an ode to the Florida Everglades past and present, told through the prescient writings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and those who today call the region home.

As Sasha Wortzel introduces viewers to River of Grass, she makes very clear the atmosphere and tone that she’s going for, it’s a blend of artistic, poetic, wholesome and generous. It has a strong air of nostalgia as it explores the writings and opinions of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, which also bleeds into the cinematography. There’s a very selfless and curious feel to the documentary, exploring all the different facets to the Everglades and making particular effort to include different perspectives and heritage.

That’s something which Wortzel does particularly well with River of Grass, showing the bigger picture. There’s a genuine attempt to look at all the different environmental elements and their impact, as well as how they’re being impacted both by humans and animals. Then that’s expanded into exploring the love and dedication which go into trying to protect and appreciate the Everglades. It’s really great to see Wortzel include a strong vein of the indigenous population and history with the area. Serving a key reminder of how often American history likes to ignore that people existed on the land before it was colonized.

However, there’s so much ground to cover that it can feel as though River of Grass is trying to do too much. It occasionally feels like it’s jumping around and taking little time to sit in a moment before it’s onto the next. It’s missing the patience that would go nicely hand in hand with its poetic touches. The choices of footage are great but the further in it gets, the more it begins to feel messy, as if it’s gradually trying to create a strange fever dream to represent the dangers to the Everglades. It’s an interesting choice but not necessarily one that affords its environmental message a bigger impact.

River of Grass is a heartfelt, thoughtful exploration of the past and present of the Florida Everglades. Sasha Wortzel makes a truly wonderful effort to provide a wide perspective of the region and its inhabitants, whether human or animal. There’s some fantastic imagery and a great mix between new and archive footage. It has a good amount of personality and variety, but it does feel like it needed to scale back slightly to allow the documentary to flow more confidently and clearly. There’s a lot of excellent elements, it simply gets fairly messy towards the end and doesn’t round itself out as strongly as it had the potential for.

Verdict: ✯✯✯½ | 7/10

In theaters from October 17

Celebrated its International Premiere at Hot Docs on April 28 & its NYC Premiere at Margaret Mead Film Festival on May 4