For more than half a century Professor M. Shapiro, or Art for short, has been making his regular rounds through central California. Art began monitoring nature – and butterflies in particular – at the age of 26.
Over this period, he has walked the same ten nature trails over and over again, in the process covering a distance more than twice the circumference of the earth. He looks, observes, names and documents the flora and fauna around him. A marginal activity, it seems, but his care and diligence have determined that its impact has been enormous.
The film starts when Shapiro is 72 – the camera simply follows him on his path through nature and observes him patiently and attentively, just as he does the butterflies and other insects. Everything he sees and finds is carefully documented and archived, either by himself or by the research centre where he takes his findings.
After five decades-plus of long-term observation, an alarming picture has emerged: the majority of butterflies and insects found in his locale have disappeared, affecting the whole fragile ecosystem that they are, or have been, part of.
As the world around him changes, the imperturbable Art retains his fixed routines. That said, one of his routes has become impassable due to the enormous wild fires that ravage California every year. And Art, himself, isn’t getting any younger. Filmmakers Bergs and Siedenburg, who met Shapira in 2019 and raised funds for the film through Kickstarter, return repeatedly to the butterfly collector, revealing the gradual and ominous changes in his own life.
The vegetation around him is altering, shops and people are disappearing, and his body is beginning to hinder him in his work. But Art takes everything as it comes, such as the major depressions he has suffered, a serious accident and the strokes that have recently affected him. We learn about this in the many emails that he wrote to the filmmakers over the years. They are beautiful reflections on life, the passing of time and the inevitable changes that everyone has to deal with.
The constants in his life are the emotions that each trip engenders: “They bring joy and have become central to my identity,” he writes. They are perhaps just as important to his wife, who calls him an exaggerated form of a human being, and dreads the day when Art will no longer be able to go out all day.
It is a wonderful film to lose yourself in and reflect upon. The images of nature, always bathed in sunshine (unless the sky above is heavy with ash from the forest fires), are naturally beautiful. There is hardly any music, other than the minimalist sounds at the film’s beginning and end, and we hear the constant murmur of the ever-flowing river. The conversations with Art and the people who know and appreciate him are profound and free of pretentiousness, as is the entire film.
At a time when everything seems to be about quick success, exceptional achievements and advancing technology, Weeping Rocks (named after the rocks that seem to weep because of the water flowing over them, and which attract butterflies) is a refreshing source of inspiration. No form of modern research can replace the work that Art has done and continues to do – it is the man and his passion that make it valuable. His work is, like the film, a true labour of love.
Weeping Rocks, US, 2025 86 minutes
Director: Karlis Bergs
Co-director: Andrew Siedenburg
Screenplay: Karlis Bergs
Production: Lucy Kerr for Conjuring Productions, Pablo Alvarez Mesa
Cinematography: Karlis Bergs
Editing: Karlis Bergs
Sound: Andrew Siedenburg
Sound Design: Andrew Siedenburg
