Original subtitles

-[birds chirping] -[leaves rustling]

[soft mystical music playing]

[sighs]

-[music builds] -[ethereal vocalization]

-[birds chirping] -[music continues playing]

[birds continue chirping]

[music fades]

-[sighs] -[frog croaking]

-[insects chirping] -[sighs]

That's not… No.

[birds twittering]

[breathes rapidly]

[sighs]

[frog croaking]

[bird chirping]

[blows sharply]

[sighs]

[button clicks]

[button clicks]

[sighs]

-[whimpers] -[cellphone thuds]

[birds chirping]

[breathes sharply]

What do you think?

[uplifting music playing]

[Penelope] I'm gonna go get some supplies in town.

[frog croaking]

[Penelope] Hopefully, I'll be back before nightfall.

[sighs]

-[footsteps receding] -[birds chirping]

[music builds]

[Penelope whispers] Okay, so…

[in normal voice] Um, one hour?

[ethereal vocalization]

[birds chirping]

[ethereal vocalization continues]

[music concludes]

[suspenseful music playing]

[helicopter blades whirring]

-[helicopter blades continue whirring] -[indistinct radio chatter]

[pilot speaking over radio indistinctly]

[ethereal vocalization continues]

[birds chirping]

[music concludes]

[breathes sharply]

[breathes sharply]

[sighs]

[sighs]

[woman in distance] That's nice!

I can tell you're a good hugger!

Hi! [laughs]

Did you think that was the tree talking to you?

-[laughing] -Oh!

-Um… -[woman sniggering] Gotcha!

Oh! [laughs]

Yeah, that was a good one! [chuckles]

I don't suppose you're one of the loggers, are you?

-Huh? -[woman] Yeah, I didn't think so.

Stay right there! I'm coming down.

[inhales, exhales sharply]

[sighs]

[pants]

Hey!

Helena.

Amber.

Amber?

Okay.

Nice to meet you, Amber.

I've been coming out here for years. Hell, decades. [chuckles]

Used to be a whole bunch of us.

Got kind of crazy, back in the '80s, and…

now it's pretty quiet. [exhales]

It's like we keep doing this, uh, stage play.

We keep putting it on, you know? Okay, so, I… I go up in the tree,

and then they send the helicopter, and then they yell at me, I yell at them.

[laughs] And then they go away.

And then I relax and then they come back!

And half the time, they don't even send the loggers.

-So, you're living out here? -[Helena] No, no.

No. [chuckles] I live nearby.

I have friends in the park service, and they tip me off.

So, I come when I'm needed.

And that means it's just you?

No! I have people help me. [inhales sharply]

My nephew comes when he can, when he's not traveling for work.

I have a buddy who comes and his daughter

and all she does is look at her phone, you know? Uh.

I've done pretty well, really.

I don't get why they have to take down these trees.

It's a park.

It's not like they're gonna make condos, or… [chuckles]

[Helena] Okay, so they take them because they say they're sick.

That's the excuse they use, so that they can pick 'em off, one by one.

They think that they know what the land needs

better than the land knows what it needs, right?

[inhales] This is all a strategy.

They say that one tree can make the other one sick.

That's why they need to cut them down.

They need to slowly dwindle down the protective trees.

When the protected ones are gone

and their politician friends on their boards can rezone,

sell off the whole thing,

then they can just creep in, cut down a few more, push the barriers.

All of a sudden, if nobody's watchin', they're all gone.

Which is why I'm always watching.

[Penelope pants] But are the trees really sick?

[Helena] Some of them, yeah.

[Penelope] But…

what if the trees are making the other trees sick?

Then why am I doing this?

Big question.

[inhales deeply, exhales sharply]

Did your mother ever breastfeed you?

-What? [chuckles] -[Helena chuckling] Okay.

Yeah. Left field. All right.

[inhales] There are old stories about babies

who can communicate with their mothers, their needs, you know, in that way.

All right? So, let's say you're a baby,

and you're sick, and you're breastfeeding.

Your mama's body knows your ailment

as told to her from your mouth to her areola.

And then in her body, she can make antibodies, like medicine,

and then she sends it out to you

through her areola to your mouth the next time you feed.

So there are people who believe that trees

are all connected in that same way,

like under the ground.

And they can talk to each other under the ground.

Which is why the people who wanna take them down say,

"Ah, one sick tree can make the other trees sick."

But I don't think that's how it works.

I don't think they wanna hurt each other, right?

They wanna make each other well.

[chuckles] Trees are very social beings.

They depend on the other trees to survive.

It's all about sharing, giving and taking.

Even a dying tree…

it's gonna give back to the forest around it.

It's only when a tree is cut down…

that it becomes unnatural,

because the other trees… [in hushed voice] …they can feel that.

The forest can feel it.

It's violence. They feel it miles around.

[inhales] That hurt.

It, like, stays there in the ground where they live, you know?

That's what I believe, anyway. [chuckles]

[chuckles softly]

-Look, uh-- Nothing is simple. -[birds chirping]

Every human believes they're right, right? [chuckles softly]

But I'll tell you something that I do know.

I do know that these trees have been here longer than me,

longer than the arborists,

longer than the park police and their helicopters,

and longer than the damn loggers and the politicians,

and all their parents, parents, parents, parents!

[breathes sharply]

[smacks lips] So, I'm a believer in the trees.

[laughing] Why are you looking at me that way?

[chuckles] I'm sorry, it's just…

-It's so cool… [chuckles] -Oh.

…to see someone tryin' to do so much good out here.

All by yourself.

Yeah, it's hard to fathom in that

one little lady, all by herself.

-Yeah. Right. [chuckles] -[Helena chuckles]

[gasps, in hushed voice] Get down, get down. Shh.

They said I had 24 hours to evacuate,

that usually means they're not even gonna bring in the loggers.

I need to get back up there. You're welcome to come if you want to.

-[suspenseful music playing] -[sighs]

[sighs]

[eerie vocalization]

[breathes sharply]

[door creaking]

-[door thudding] -[Penelope panting]

-[Helena] Hey, hey. -[music concludes]

[Helena] Use your webbing.

-[metal hook clattering] -[Penelope pants]

-[door creaks, closes] -[Helena] Okay, now skinny over here.

Just gonna be safe here.

-Uh-uh. Keep-- -Okay.

-Yeah. [sighs] -Yeah.

Hang on. [sighs]

-[clasp clicks] -[Helena grunts] There you go!

All right! Good girl. [sighs] Okay, are you hungry?

-[exhales sharply] -Oh, yeah.

-I'm starving. -[Helena groans] Okay, good!

[groans] This all used to be easier! [pants]

This bucket is for food and water and the other one is here.

-Right. -[both chuckling]

[Helena groaning]

[sighing]

[sighing]

-[bird twittering] -[exhilarating music playing]

[birds chirping]

[breathes deeply, sighs]

Welcome home.

[sighs deeply]

[crickets chirping]

[music concludes]

[Helena] So, your name is Amber

and you are camping and hiking in the woods for a while.

[smacking lips] Is everything safe for you back home?

Oh! Yeah, no, no, no. It's not really anything like that.

It's just…

[Helena] Just what?

That's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't wanna.

[Penelope] It's not that. It's just…

I don't really know how to talk about it.

[inhales] You could try it.

[sighs deeply]

I think that…

I'm worried… there is a piece… deep inside of me that is…

broken.

That there's this massive hole that I'm never gonna be able to fill.

I'll never be whole.

[Helena] I've been… [sighs] …reading a lot about inherited trauma.

Some people say that because our genes were inside our mother

when she was inside her mother's womb…

[inhales] …that we were there.

Inside our mothers and our grandmothers.

And because of that,

whatever happened to them, whatever they endured… [inhales]

…it left a mark on their genes.

And that left a mark on us also.

My mother always used to say that she carried the marks of her people.

I didn't know what she meant.

I just saw her as a moody, deeply unhappy asshole most of the time.

But this one day…

we went to the grocery store together…

[inhales sharply] …and outside,

there was this mangy, little, mutt-like little dog,

you know, it was all wiggly and hopeful,

-and mooching people. [chuckles] -[chuckles]

[Helena inhaling sharply] And when we came back out into the parking lot…

I guess somebody hadn't seen it and they backed right over it.

It was dead. That was sad.

[inhales deeply, exhales] But, I mean, I'd seen a dead dog before.

But my mother, though, my mother just snapped.

She had dropped everything. She went running towards it.

She reached her hand out.

She started just wailing. [inhales]

So loud, guttural.

Like, we were hearing this chasm open up inside of her

and she just could not control it.

Totally freaked everyone out.

People didn't know what to do. You know, they're trying to help.

They're confused. You know, they're just turning away.

They don't wanna see it. Uncomfortable. But I kept watching her.

It seemed like forever.

It was deeply unsettling, but I could not look away.

I didn't get it then.

I… I didn't get that I was connecting to that through her.

I was really young. [inhales]

But I could feel a voice rising up inside of me,

like, "You have to stand witness for her."

[inhales] Because I knew deep down that we shared that… somehow.

So the theory is, the pain that you feel,

it might be really, really old so you're not gonna understand it.

You're not gonna know where it's coming from.

You don't know that it lives inside you. You don't know what will speak to it,

to the pain that connects us.

[mellow music playing]

[birds chirping]

[music concludes]

[Helena] Get up! Stay close to the tree.

-Grab the webbing, okay? Listen. -[helicopter blades whirring]

As long as we stay here,

they're not gonna cut any trees. They won't risk it.

-They're just gonna try to scare us, okay? -Who's they?

[Helena] Just stay down and trust me.

-Okay? Just hold on! -Should we go down?

Hey, hey, hey! Lookie, lookie, lookie!

We're still here! Come on down!

You fucking assholes!

[pilot over speaker] This is your final warning.

-[laughs, cheers] -[pilot] Ground support is on their way.

-[Helena laughing] -[pilot] You must evacuate the tree.

-For your own safety… -[Helena cheers]

-[pilot] …please, evacuate the tree. -[laughs hysterically]

-[ominous music playing] -Oh, I'm so scared! [laughs]

[woodcutter] Are you gonna listen this time?

Oh, shit! Oh!

You fuckers!

[chainsaw whirring]

-[inaudible] -[whirring muffles]

[melancholic vocalization]

-[vocalization fades] -[music fades]

-[Helena wailing] No! -[somber music playing]

[continues crying]

[dramatic vocalization]

[pensive music plays]

[vocalization continues]

[vocalization continues]

[music concludes]