Natural Resistance *** (2014) – Movie Review

US film-maker Jonathan Nossiter, best known for his 2014 anti-corporate wine-making documentary Mondovino, returns to the subject, documenting the drastic shifts that have affected the industry in the decade. By chatting with four Italian wine producers about the current state of wine, the film casually but effectively looks at what’s happening to winemaking in the EU and the proud, brave little band of winemakers who are standing up to it.

Natural Resistance follows four Italian winegrowers and their extended families who live la dolce vita in their vast Tuscan estates. Their idyllic life is troubled only by their organic winegrowing methods that don’t suit the usual apparently dodgy official wine DOC arrangements, which they say are just there to suit the supermarkets. They’re outcasts from the system, and proud of it, though still angry about it.

Meanwhile, a film bloke from Bologna offers a lot of movie chat and many film clips, most of them having nothing to do with wine, like Dial M for Murder, though it’s lovely to see Grace Kelly fighting off her would-be killer once more.

Anyhow, back to wine. The average grape no longer has deep roots, as it is grown in soil that’s so dead it looks exactly like concrete. The real deal is alive, crumbly soil that bugs can grow in, and proper wine as well.

It’s easy to believe almost every single word you hear. This bunch of Italians carry (on in Italian) in the most charming, passionate sort of way you get to know them a bit and quite like them. The documentary is informative and entertaining, and that’s the only important thing. Also importantly, it made me want to do two things: (1) pack my bags for an Easyjet flight to Tuscany and (2) a bit simpler, head for the nearest, despised, supermarket to buy a nice bottle of Tuscan wine.

It has also made me check the labels on my wine bottles a lot more carefully, and the info the supermarket gives on the internet, even if, as the personnel in the movie would say, this won’t do me much good. Yes of course, I’d prefer to hove up at their estates and buy from them any day, but here I am stuck in London.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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