Summer in the Forest, Randall Wright’s documentary on Jean Vanier and his L’Arche communities for the disabled, contains a number of indelible moments. In one, an elderly man sits, docilely, for a haircut. As a younger worker clips his hair, he holds out his knobbled hand and receives the milkweed-silk trimmings in his palm.
The elderly man is not one of the disabled L’Arche residents, but Jean Vanier himself. Wright’s documentary is timed perfectly. By following Vanier as an old man, the film allows Vanier’s body to offer the witness of his words and actions: We are all fragile, and we must love one another.
Here is the film’s trailer:
A while ago the CBC asked people who they thought was the greatest Canadian ever. I picked Jean Vanier. Many good Canadians have had good ideas and even worked hard to make them happen. Vanier has gone a step further and given himself to the disabled completely. He lives with them 24-7. He has done so for many years. Not just saying the disabled are worth our best but giving his best to them almost without limit.
Excellent choice!