Three years ago, Pete and I were lucky enough to be invited to London for a special screening of the movie Grow Your Own.

It didn’t get a wide release and so I know there are a lot of people who have never seen it, but it’s a wonderful film and it deserves to be seen and so I’m very glad that it’s available until the end of the week on iPlayer as part of Refugee Week. And so here’s my contribution to Refugee Week – a review of the film that I wrote 3 days after I saw it.

I know that readers of this blog love to garden, on whatever scale, and appreciate the healing power that nature has over the down and depressed. Grow Your Own shows the power it can have over the disenfranchised and distressed. It’s not to be sniffed at.

A British indie film in the unlikely setting of an allotment (community garden) could well be the cult movie of the year.

“Grow Your Own” is set amid the mud and clutter of an allotment garden. Run by hidebound traditionalists who ignore the occasional dissenting voice, the status quo is threatened by the arrival of a handful of asylum seekers who are given plots in the hope that outdoor work and fresh food will help them heal their broken lives.

This is not a film about gardening; it’s a story of prejudice and pain in a garden setting. Expertly written and brilliantly rendered by the actors, the film takes you on a journey of hope and despair with many insights into the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Benedict Wong gives a remarkable performance as the traumatized, and largely silent, Kung Sang. To a large extent the movie is his story, as we try to imagine what has happened to him and join his children in hoping he can find his way back to happiness. Will he be able to find his voice in such a hostile environment?

Philip Jackson gives us a believable villain in Big John, a man who firmly believes he can and should speak for everyone. Omid Djalili’s charming performance as an immigrant who is accepted merely because he is useful opens the gates to a change of heart.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are some genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments and a wry look at the British obsession with the weather. The comedy comes from a raft of supporting actors, and only the talents of Olivia Colman appear to be wasted in a small part that goes nowhere.

Although the allotment is the stage and not the star, gardeners in the audience will not be disappointed. The film opens with some very funny vignettes of the lengths that obsessed “allotmenteers” go to for their plots. Slices of allotment life appear with numerous scenes set in sheds and the on site shop, fueled by copious cups of tea.

Those with a less horticultural mindset will be able to spot the gardening fanatics in the audience – they will be unable to suppress their outrage when one of the plots is bulldozed mid-season (which one will it be?) and the ones murmuring “sharks fin melons, sharks fin melons” as they leave.

With comedy, poignancy and some heartrending moments Grow Your Own is well worth seeking out. The film aims to plant the seeds of tolerance and hope in its audience; it’s up to us to help them grow.