TRIBECA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! What lies beneath the surface that we call home? It’s a question that I don’t think we spend nearly enough time pondering, since it’s mostly out of sight and out of mind. Director/co-writer Rob Petit’s documentary Underland, based on co-writer Robert Macfarlane’s bestselling book and narrated by Sandra Hüller, is a beautiful cinematic exploration of the world beneath the Earth.
The film follows three different people to show their perspectives of the underground. Bradley Garrett is an “urban explorer” who searches the dank, dark tunnels of Las Vegas, which he says reveal a wealth of clues about our culture through the materials found there. Mariangela Lisanti is a physicist in Canada who is researching underground to help answer one of science’s greatest mysteries: dark matter. Lastly, we have Fátima Tec Pool, an archaeologist who explores the Yucatán caves of Mexico in an attempt to understand more about her Mayan ancestry.
Underland raises many interesting questions, such as why dark matter occupies so much space and what it is. Spoiler alert, but unsurprisingly, questions such as this go unanswered. I find it fascinating to see, with this documentary, how scientists test dark matter, because I would have never known otherwise. It goes to show that questions in and of themselves can also provoke thought, such as when Pool and her team in Mexico ponder what horror awaited her ancestors whose torches went out while deep inside the caves.
“…follows three different people to show their perspectives of the underground.”
The cinematography by Ruben Woodin Dechamps is gorgeous, making the trash of the Vegas tunnels seem like ancient artifacts. Likewise, the handprints of the Mayans are a beauty to behold, a societal treasure of sorts. Even the images of what dark matter could be are striking. The beautiful score by Hannah Peel is also a great compliment to what we see onscreen.
The documentary is produced by the great Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), and with mysterious elements such as dark matter and talk of things like the roots of the world’s trees, I can see why. However, Petit’s overall tone seems more optimistic than Aronofsky’s work usually comes across. This is despite moments of heaviness, such as when Garrett ponders the misfortune of the homeless who live in the tunnels, while the wealthy reside in skyscrapers.
Some viewers may be a bit frustrated by the lack of answers in Underland, while others will let the beauty of the caves wash over them like a wave. The Canadian SNOLAB facility, with its computers providing null test results from dark matter experiments, is a prime example of the former. At the same time, the caves themselves offer most of the visual appeal. I find it awe-inspiring to see where so many of our ancestors lived just to survive. Who knows, future generations could go back to the underground as a necessity. Either way, beneath the surface is part of our home and history, making it worthy of celluloid study.
"…awe-inspiring..."
