Tree of Hell review: Short documentary portrays haunting symbolism of Israel's attacks

The 24-minute film is screening at Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival

Tree of Hell won the special mention prize at Lebanon’s Reef festival in July. Photo: Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival

In Tree of Hell, director Raed Zeno presents an allegory of war and destruction through the story of a single tree. The documentary, which won the special mention prize at Lebanon’s Reef in July, is now screening at Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival, which is running from Friday to Sunday at the Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Tree of Hell is set in the months following the outbreak of war in Gaza, when Israel began attacking areas in the south of Lebanon with white phosphorous munitions. The film begins with footage of such an attack, sent to Zeno by Hadi Awada, one of his friends who lives in the village of Kafr Kila.

Awada, a farmer and an environmental activist, travels to Beirut as the attacks intensify, visiting Zeno in his apartment in Forn El Chebbak. As Awada helps tend to the plants around the apartment, Zeno shows him a small tree that is growing just outside his home, one that he has become particularly fond of. Awada says the tree is actually an invasive species, threatening the biodiversity of Lebanon.

Awada calls Dr Mohammad Abdalla, a specialist on invasive species, and it becomes evident that the tree growing in front of Zeno’s home is just an offshoot of a “mother tree”. In fact, the whole neighbourhood has been overtaken by offshoots, growing in tight alleys and open spaces alike.

“An invasive tree!” Zeno says in a voice-over in the film. “Where did it come from? I was happy to have it and now I am wary of it. Can there really be such a thing as a harmful tree?”

The discovery is shocking for Zeno, who soon sets out to learn more about the tree and its ramifications on the environment. The tree is called Ailanthus, but also has the moniker of "tree of paradise". Ailanthus is infamous for its ability to grow quickly, to the detriment of surrounding flora. In its native China, the tree stays evergreen with a wood density that makes it useful across many industries.

However, that is not the case in Lebanon, where the tree sheds its leaves frequently, limiting its uses. Zeno soon travels north from Beirut, to the Chekka Train Station, where French colonial forces had planted the tree so it would provide shade to the area. Today, the train station is abandoned and only the Ailanthus grows in the area, overtaking every other type of vegetation.

It is at this point that a poetic parallel is drawn between the effects of this invasive species and the war. As Israel pummels and scorches areas of South Lebanon with white phosphorous, rendering the soil toxic, the Ailanthus grows as “a selfish tree”, caring only about its own sustenance.

It “loves only itself, unlike cedars, junipers and olive trees", Zeno says.

This self-regard is most clearly shown as the director travels to a forest along the Alma coast, where “a monolithic forest” of Ailanthus has grown, leaving no space or room for other species.

“The tree grows a carcinogenic substance,” Abdalla says in the film. “It kills roots underground. It even drives away birds. Therefore, this area is considered devastated, where only that specific tree grows.”

Abdalla also points out a horrifying fact, pointing to the nearby unaffected forest, saying that if one Ailanthus seed manages to make it across, then “that forest will disappear".

Despite being only 24 minutes long, Tree of Life provides a thought-provoking diptych of war and environmental devastation. The mixture of drone footage, close-ups and meticulous framing makes the documentary visually compelling, whereas the original score accentuates the film’s drama and haunting symbolism.

The documentary also benefits from having a clear direction, a plot, if you will. It is not an aloof examination of an invasive species, but rather evocatively and emotionally highlights what is at stake. As the film nears its end, a metaphor solidifies, as Ailanthus flourishes to the detriment of others, a “selfish tree that loves only itself” that wants to overtake its neighbours as “a monolithic forest".