Every Little Thing | Dir: Sally Aitken | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Australian director Sally Aitken’s film was inspired by Terry Masear’s 2016 book Fastest Things in Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood. She travelled to Aitken’s Beverly Hills home to capture the work that Masear has been doing for the last 18 years in rescuing hummingbirds.
Human activities have injured many of these small California native birds and it requires an enormous amount of 24/7 patience and care to nurse them back to health. It is Masear’s life, and her house and yard are dedicated to caring for her tiny patients from the ICU of small cages to eventual freedom.
Of course, not all the injured birds given into her care survive and there is heartbreak as well as healing. A survivor of abuse and loss herself, Masear admits that the hummingbirds have also healed her as she weaves her story into the narrative of caring for the small birds.
There is Sugar Baby, who was so badly mistreated that you find yourself holding your breath as she is treated. There’s Jimmy who fell out of his nest as a baby, and cries as he doesn’t like to be alone. And there’s my favourite – Cactus who had a collision with a cactus and came in with cactus spines embedded in his back and a broken wing.
Then there is Mikhail who shares a cage with Alexa and is crazily attracted to Alexa even though she is a different species.
With exceptional cinematography, this film is truly inspirational and heart-warming. As Masear says, “The truth is when you show compassion, and you show love for something that you don’t have to, it’s an act of greatness.”
Luna Leederville has a Virtual Q&A screening event on Thursday 27 March at 6.30pm (with arrivals at 6.00pm) – with director Sally Aitken. See lunapalace.com.au for more information.
Lezly Herbert
