Garnet’s Gold (2014)

The previous 6 reviews on this documentary are truly spot on. I cannot add anything else to these wonderful reviews except that I have seen this MASTERPIECE a few months ago and still cannot stop recommending it to all. In fact I will keep on recommending it forever. (Moreover it shows Scotland so beautiful therefore a tempting destination even when the weather is appalling like right now this summer). Man on Wire documentary was as excellent, what a gifted Documentary team. I hope they are going to give us some more jewels documentaries. The characters in this story are so endearing and so human. The soul searching and landscapes magnificent.

I stumbled across this Storyville film on BBC4 by chance. Without doubt it has a most profound affect on me which I struggle to explain. I am not moved easily but found this film has been with me since I viewed it last week. Perhaps it is because we can all see parts of ourselves within Garnet that it captures our inner imaginations and emotions. I particularly liked his interaction with his elderly mother, who proves to be a captivating woman to watch and listen to her words of wisdom. Garnet has entered my world now and I want to see and hear more of, and from, him. I hope Ed Perkins can find time to do a follow-up that has the same magic. Please watch and make your own judgment. Full marks to the writer and director Ed Perkins for his vision and wonderful photography to take the chance to share this story.

Great story, Garnet Frost is an English gem. Beautifully filmed with some wonderful Scottish landscapes the photography is stunning. A quirky, intelligent, interesting man's journey handled by the film maker's with what felt like a genuine warmth. How nice these days to see a persons life treated with dignity and interest rather than the shoddy, "let's laugh at someone different" TV we're mostly served up. I thought this is really about a quest by a man to find his place in the world with a subplot of his search for lost gold. We see the ups and downs of an ordinary/extraordinary man's life as he struggles with love lost, the health of his mum, finances and his passionate search for Bonny Prince Charlie's lost gold ! Along the way there are pub singalongs, marauding midges, weather balloons and a marvellous taste of his poetry. As far as I'm concerned it's a little treasure !

I caught this while channel hopping under it's alternative title 'The Lost Gold of the Highlands'and gave it a go expecting a history documentary...and wasn't prepared for what I got instead. From the opening few moments you fully buy into the story of Garnet, an ageing man who has never let go of a dream that has fixated him since a near death experience twenty years previously. His search for his gold is as much a search for his place in life, a yardstick to measure his own worth and his success as a man and as a human. The intimacy achieved by the filmmakers gets closer than ever and is matched only by Garnet's openness and conspires to construct a warts and all portrait that is at once about the man, and about everybody in the same breath. The cinematography and editing make this visually stunning as shots switch from extreme close up, to the wide open vistas of the Scottish Highlands. I have never seen anything quite like this, and may wait a long time until I do. Seek it out.