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Short filmTranscript
00:00In the middle of the old continent, on the eastern borders of Poland and the western borders of Belarus,
00:18there is a pulse of the original forest, uninterrupted for several thousand years.
00:24The remains of the original forests, which were once densely covered by European lowlands.
00:32The biosphere reserve and the heritage of humanity.
00:37The Bialowieza Forest.
00:54The Bialowieza Forest.
01:24The Bialowieza Forest.
01:29In the previous four parts, we have presented the multilayered Puszczan House
01:34and its inhabitants, plants, herbivores, predators and parasites.
01:40It's time to present the last link in the Puszczan chain of change of matter.
01:47Are we going the right way?
01:50Good, good. It must be somewhere here.
02:00There was a whole herd here.
02:06There is a trace.
02:14I found it.
02:20Whether we like it or not, regardless of our aesthetic impressions,
02:24the real forest can also be like this.
02:27And more often than we think.
02:32There is a deadline for every life.
02:36In the Bialowieza Forest, billions of organisms die every day.
02:41From microscopic viruses and bacteria to such giants as this bull.
02:47Adult beetles die mostly from old age or the effect of diseases.
02:53What is happening to such a huge mass of organic matter
02:58in the conditions of the original forest, where only nature rules?
03:06It is occupied by a specialized team of herbivores.
03:10Wolf, fox, boar, deer, stag, then a lot of insects
03:16and finally, an army of bacteria.
03:19Depending on the season, they need at least a few weeks or months
03:24to leave only this much.
03:27There are more bones here.
03:35What most animals did not use,
03:38the bacteria spread to simple organic compounds
03:41that flowed into the soil with rainwater.
03:44Now a new generation of plants lives on them.
03:48Every death is a stepping stone to a new life.
03:53It contains the meaning and personality of an eternally alive forest soul.
04:15The first flies usually appear.
04:18They lay eggs.
04:20This will provide priority for their larvae.
04:23Phetor seduces the right predators.
04:26Already with the vanishing concentration of the smell of rot,
04:29they receive odor stimuli.
04:32Expansive ants overtake all competitors
04:35and immediately take over.
04:38They do not allow anyone.
04:40What can the crowd do?
04:43They do nothing.
05:09Nothing can go to waste.
05:12What is useless for beetle larvae is an attraction that cannot be despised.
05:17After two days, there will be no trace of it on the surface.
05:20But under the ground, a new generation of beetles will emerge.
05:25But not only beetles use what is useless for beetles.
05:42What dead matter is in the forest the most?
05:45Of course, wood.
05:48A few years ago, this huge tree was alive.
05:55The Tsar's oak, a symbol of the power of the Białystok Forest.
06:02The Tsar's oak, a symbol of the power of the Białystok Forest.
06:07The Tsar's oak, a symbol of the power of the Białystok Forest.
06:12It is 42 meters tall.
06:16It is almost 6.5 meters in circumference.
06:22At this height, in a real natural forest,
06:27not grown by man,
06:30a lot of dead standing trees are normal.
06:35They are not a sign of its degeneration.
06:38What's more, without them, the forest would not be self-sufficient
06:42and could not grow back.
07:05The Tsar's oak
07:10The Tsar's oak
07:34Dried up standing trees,
07:37fallen under the blow of diseases,
07:40torn by the wind.
07:43In a natural forest, what is dead
07:46sooner or later returns to the ground.
07:49From dust to dust.
08:05The Tsar's oak
08:17If the huge bushes do not collapse under the weight of their own bark,
08:21rotten inside,
08:23rolled up by parasites,
08:26or rotten right next to the ground,
08:29then, like this powerful oak,
08:35they fall under the weight of centuries,
08:38living up to their biological age.
08:43But the greatest devastation,
08:46even among the healthiest trees,
08:49is caused by violent storms.
08:52When a huge one falls,
08:55it breaks and drags other trees down.
09:00Or it tears them from the ground
09:03when its roots are entangled with the roots of its neighbor.
09:13If the storm
09:15destroys the forest locally,
09:18then a real disaster
09:21is the passage of a violent air storm.
09:25Fourteen years ago,
09:28it only took a few dozen seconds
09:32for a huge meadow
09:36of mixed bark to fall,
09:39which had been growing here for centuries.
09:43Every fall is the beginning
09:46of a long ongoing process,
09:49which cannot be stopped.
09:52The wood turns into dust,
09:55and the forest is destroyed.
09:59The pace of decomposition
10:01depends on the microclimate
10:03at the bottom of the meadow,
10:05on the moisture from the rain,
10:07on the moisture from the soil,
10:09on the time of flooding,
10:12but also on the force of frost
10:14and the time of snowfall,
10:16and, above all,
10:18on the presence of suitable organisms
10:21that decompose wood.
10:23More or less 30 years ago,
10:26a huge spruce fell.
10:29There are thousands of such spruces
10:32at the bottom of the original meadow.
10:37In each of them,
10:39millions of individuals,
10:41bacteria, fungi, fungi, and insects
10:44process dead tissue.
10:47These rotting masses
10:49may seem useless
10:52No!
10:53They are life-giving matter.
10:56Here, not only does life end,
10:59but it also begins anew.
11:03Usually, fallen trees
11:05are the first to take over the fungi.
11:08They do not attack directly.
11:10Fungi cells release enzymes
11:12that neither cellulose nor lignin can resist.
11:15A specific microclimate
11:17at the bottom of the meadow helps them.
11:20It also blows thanks to the fusion of fungi.
11:23The dense cover of flies
11:25that cover the trunks
11:27maintains high humidity.
11:29Other organisms settle
11:31on the partially decomposed dust,
11:33including herbivores.
11:35By absorbing organic matter and moisture,
11:38they speed up decomposition.
11:50The young larvae of the Rochatyn Garbaja
11:54feed on rotten wood,
11:56preferably oak.
12:02In a few minutes,
12:04the young larvae
12:06will be able to eat
12:08the rotten wood.
12:10The young larvae
12:12will be able to eat
12:14the rotten wood.
12:17In a few minutes,
12:19they will calm down
12:21and drill for several centimeters.
12:36This is an adult female Rochatyn Garbaja.
12:39She spent three years,
12:41almost her entire life,
12:43in the larvae stadium,
12:45collecting materials
12:47necessary for reproduction.
12:51And this is an adult male.
13:11Rochatyn Garbaja
13:13is one of the original species
13:15of the Bialowieza Forest.
13:17Everywhere, but here,
13:19in the original outcrops
13:21of the Bialowieza Forest,
13:23it is full of fertilizers.
13:36Fertilizers lay eggs,
13:38develop and live
13:40in the wood spread earlier
13:42by the mushrooms.
13:44Fertilizers are suitable
13:46for consumption in each phase,
13:48whether it is rotting,
13:50rotting or rotting.
13:52Imagine, day by day,
13:54hundreds of species
13:56and millions of fertilizer
13:58eaters process literally
14:00tons of fertilizer,
14:02accelerating its decomposition.
14:04These are really impressive
14:06sizes.
14:08The Bialowieza Forest
14:10is full of various
14:12and rare plants,
14:14animals and mushrooms.
14:16The forest would be poorer.
14:22The bottom of the desert.
14:24What is not here?
14:26All the waste,
14:28everything that is not needed.
14:30In a word, like after a feast.
14:32The leftovers from the table.
14:34And this unimaginably large
14:36forest of leaves and twigs.
14:38If we assume that
14:40two and a half tons of leaves
14:42fall on one hectare
14:44throughout the year,
14:46there are more than
14:48270,000 tons of this
14:50in the entire Bialowieza Forest
14:52annually.
14:54Isn't it a waste of grass
14:56on the part of nature?
14:58No.
15:00This sludge is
15:02a guarantee of life.
15:04Tons of mushrooms,
15:06mold and the like,
15:08use heat and moisture.
15:30The miniature inhabitants of
15:32the Bialowieza Forest
15:34eat only a few grams of
15:36leaves throughout their lives.
15:38But on one square meter,
15:40along with small spores,
15:42mushrooms and bacteria,
15:44several thousand of them live.
15:46It is not difficult to imagine
15:48their possibilities.
15:50If all the leftovers
15:52gathered at the bottom of the desert
15:54every year,
15:56it would soon cease to exist.
15:58But in the crowd of miniatures
16:00small animals and mushrooms
16:02along with an uncountable army
16:04of microorganisms build a future
16:06for the giants.
16:08They turn the useless,
16:10seemingly mass,
16:12into a life-giving plushie.
16:14Here, at the bottom of the Bialowieza Forest,
16:16there is the most efficient
16:18living laboratory.
16:20This is the turning point
16:22of the eternal cycle of matter.
16:24This is where the mystery
16:26of the immortality of the forest lies.
16:28The organic matter
16:30today is a plushie,
16:32tomorrow a plushie or a butterfly,
16:34and the day after tomorrow an eagle.
16:58BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
17:28BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
17:58BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:00BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:02BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:04BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:06BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:08BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:10BIOVISJON AS Trygve Lie
18:12Actually, at this point
18:14we could finish our cycle
18:16about the immortality of the forest.
18:18And so it is.
18:20Let's treat this part of the film
18:22as our epilogue.
18:24Or, as you wish,
18:26let's go.
18:28For our great-grandfather,
18:30the forest was the basis of his existence.
18:32The whole world
18:34was his environment,
18:36just as it was the environment
18:38of a beaver, a wolf or a beaver.
18:40He understood it
18:42and worshipped it as he could.
18:56THE BEAVER
19:26THE BEAVER
19:50Our great-grandfather's attitude
19:52towards the forest changed.
19:54He began to free himself
19:56from its care.
19:58He began to take.
20:00First, only what he needed.
20:02And it was generous.
20:04It gave him nothing in return.
20:24THE BEAVER
20:26Unfortunately,
20:28the time has come
20:30for man to go into battle.
20:32He has begun
20:34his relentless exploitation of the forest.
20:36Stop!
20:38That's not right.
20:40Until now,
20:42I could have had a good time
20:44with our great-grandfather,
20:46but I won't play this role.
20:48Who would like to play
20:50the role of a cat today?
20:54THE CAT
21:24THE CAT
21:54THE CAT
22:24THE CAT
22:54THE CAT
23:24THE CAT
23:54THE CAT
23:56THE CAT
23:58THE CAT
24:00THE CAT
24:02THE CAT
24:04THE CAT
24:06THE CAT
24:08THE CAT
24:10THE CAT
24:12Endless,
24:14endless hunting in the forest.
24:16Chopping trees,
24:18killing animals,
24:20pushing and destroying.
24:22Actually,
24:24he was constantly hunting.
24:26A short-sighted
24:28was the author of the poem
24:30There was no us,
24:32there was a forest.
24:34There will be no us,
24:36there will be a forest.
24:38Could he have foreseen
24:40a more black vision,
24:42the threat of the destruction
24:44of the ancient Slavic
24:46Bialowieza Forest
24:48at the beginning of the 21st century?
24:50The forest of the 21st century
24:52was carefully and effectively
24:54protected from colonization,
24:56plundering and slavery.
24:58In fact, it was exploited
25:00at that time,
25:02but the real plundering
25:04began at the beginning
25:06of our century.
25:08From the First World War
25:10to today,
25:1227 million square meters
25:14of wood have been cut.
25:16The forest paid a huge price
25:18for understanding
25:20what the original forests
25:22of Low Europe looked like.
25:24Only foresters
25:26can benefit from this model.
25:28Others are convinced
25:30that a forest cannot exist
25:32without them,
25:34that it must first be planted
25:36as a plant on a plantation,
25:38then nurtured,
25:40and then exploited.
25:42It is surprising that
25:44there were no foresters
25:46in the early 20th century.
25:48Artificial trees
25:50function in production cycles.
25:52They have their childhood,
25:54youth, maturity,
25:56and maturity.
25:58They are born,
26:00or rather,
26:02they are born and killed.
26:04These words were written
26:06by Professor Witold Keller,
26:08a forester.
26:10In our eyes,
26:12the tainted Bialowieza Forest
26:14In a hurry,
26:16the last natural nursery
26:18is being cut.
26:20In a moment,
26:22it will be too late for rescue.
26:30There is one reasonable answer
26:32to the question of what's next.
26:34The entire forest,
26:36regardless of the fact
26:38that it was divided by the border
26:40in 1944,
26:42is a National Park
26:44of Transborder Biosphere Reserve.
26:46On the eastern side,
26:48much less exploited,
26:50a few years ago,
26:52the entire part of Bialowieza
26:54was considered a National Park
26:56and a Biosphere Reserve.
26:58At least for now,
27:00the disaster has been declared.
27:02On our Polish side,
27:04since 1921,
27:06only a modest part
27:08has been preserved.
27:10About 50 square kilometers.
27:12This is the Bialowieza National Park.
27:14This is far too little.
27:16The Bialowieza Forest,
27:18located at the junction
27:20of cultures of different nations,
27:22is a great heritage
27:24of the whole of Europe.
27:26We are the heirs
27:28of this desert,
27:30just as we consider
27:32the heirs of the monuments
27:34of ancient Greece and Rome.
27:36These are our roots,
27:38these are also your roots.
27:42This is what the nest
27:44of our common ancestors looked like.
27:50It is July 3, 1995.
27:54The question,
27:56what's next,
27:58still remains unanswered.
28:00Go!
28:08Go!
28:38Go!
28:42Go!
28:52Go!
28:58Go!
29:04Go!
29:08Go!
29:14Go!
29:20Go!