Memorable documentary Gardening With Soul gives us quality time with a quality human being

GARDENING With Soul: A no-nonsense nonagenarian nun delivers pearls of wisdom in this absorbing and genuinely memorable documentary.

THE gift of cinema comes in all shapes and sizes. Pay no mind to any fancy wrapping. It is always what’s inside that counts.

Never has this maxim been more true in recent times than the case of Gardening With Soul.

Sister Loyola Galvin is a straight-talking, clear-thinking nonagenarian.

The subject of this absorbing and genuinely memorable documentary is a 90-year-old nun by the name of Sister Loyola Galvin.

This straight-talking, clear-thinking woman has been a devoted member of her order for more than six decades.

Sister Loyola tends her garden at a convent in New Zealand’s Island Baycene.

It only takes a millisecond to discern that Sister Loyola is an extraordinary character with quite the life story (and world views) to share.

Sister Loyola works in her garden in Gardening With Soul.

These days, the no-nonsense nonagenarian can be found tending to her vegetable garden out the back of the Home of Compassion convent in New Zealand’s Island Bay.

Therefore all the filmmakers have to do here is let the cameras roll, and keep the microphones close. For Sister Loyola is a sharp, endearing and insightful raconteur.

Get her started on any train of thought, and she’ll take a direct, yet colourful route to the next pearl of wisdom.

(The good Sister’s instant solution to reduce domestic violence the world over? Make sure every family has access to a backyard shed.)

Simply by offering viewers the chance to spend some quality time in the company of a such a quality human being is reason enough to see Gardening With Soul.

Gardening With Soul (G)

Director: Jess Feast

Starring: Sister Loyola Galvin

Verdict: Four stars. Therein lies the shrub