THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAIN / L'APPEL DE LA MONTAGNE
Extrait (2') d'un film documentaire de Jan van Boeckel sur Arne Naess (1997)

Script de l'extrait du film

"Already when I was ten years, and eleven years, I was walking sometimes by myself in this direction, towards the mountain. Already then, I looked upon this mountain as a kind of benevolent, great father. (...) So I, somehow, interpreted that as equanimity, that far inside here it is completely - not harmonious, harmony is a too strong word, but there is a balance inside here... (...) And this big mountain - this great mountain, I mean - seems to be such an entity! So it was alive for me, and therefore I decided the best thing would be to live either on top of the mountain, or further down, on the mountain itself."

CREDITS

On 1500 metres above sea level, on the slope of the mountain Hallingskarvet, stands "Tvergastein', the cabin of Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. In his life he has spent nearly 12 years in this hut, where he wrote several books and essays on philosophy and ecology. In this film, Naess tells about the concept of 'deep ecology', which was first introduced by him in 1973. One of the basic tenets of deep ecology is that nature has a value in itself, apart from its possible use value to humans. Next to being a famous mountaineer, Naess has been a longtime activist in the environmental movement.
He gives an inspiring account of his participation in blockades to prevent the Alta river in northern Norway (the area of the Sami, an indigenous people) from being dammed.

With contributions by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, Bill Devall, George Sessions and Harold Glasser.

1997, 50 minutes, English