Monumental

In 2004, Mountainfilm screened the then-new film Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America. Ten years later, we're offering a special screening of the classic to tie in with this year's theme of wilderness. The following synopsis was written by Rick Silverman, who was the festival's director at the time.

Redwoods ... Great Basin ... Dinosaur ... San Gorgonio ... Kings Canyon ... North Cascades ... Tongass ... Cape Cod ... Fire Island ... Golden Gate ... Point Reyes ... Grand Canyon ...

Imagine an America without these places protected in perpetuity, and you imagine and America without David Brower. It is sweet to remember Brower for the sharpness of his wit and the pleasantness of his company. It is wonderful to remember him as a father and a husband, as well as an intellectual who could render the complex understandable. He was a climber, skier and naturalist. He was a soldier, seer and prophet. He was a publisher, pundit, photographer and progandist. He could plead a case as effectively as any lawyer, stir the heart of heartless congressman and put the fear of God into the soul of a lifeless bureaucracy. He could take a punch, get off the mat and find his feet. And he could bring us a vision, something dark and sometimes delicious, and give us an understanding of choices that need to be made, costs that need to be met and how each of us can do our share. Though he could thunder like the gods, he was decidedly humnan. The wonder of his gifts led to a better world because he would not let it be otherwise.

Monumental is the long-awaited film chronicling and celebrating Brower's life, using much of his original 16-mm footage. The film provides a wondrously rich account of his life and is an inspiring example of what one person can do. Brower built the Sierra Club into a national force for preservation, and he developed the model of an entire movement to follow. Brower's efforts averted the damning of the Grand Canyon and helped push through the Wilderness Act of 1964. And, from his earliest rock climbs and backcountry trips, Brower documented an unrivaled history that spans the twentieth century with his own camera. With insights and observations from friends and enemies, such as Stewart Udall, Floyd Dominy and Martin Litton, the film portrays the force that changed the face of the environment and the environmental movement. Brower played in and photographed more places than most people visit — and always with a wit and poignancy that dazzled and brought joy to all those fortunate to have known him.