This fascinating film tells the story of our growing understanding of the many roles fungi play in our lives and in all life on earth. We live in a world endangered by climate change, by uncontrollable forest fires and floods on a scale never seen before; by threats to wildlife; and by previously unknown illnesses. The film proposes a route to the survival of humanity through the realisation of our role within a community of natural forces in which we come to see ourselves as part of an infinite network, working for the good of all beings. This community encompasses ice and water, minerals, people, animals, insects and plants. Central to all of it is the increasingly understood function of fungi.

From the start the film plunges into settings of immense visual lushness. The camera-work and computer-generated imagery are stunning. We see mountains and waterfalls, forests and forest floors from which fungi burst out and grow, lose their spores, wither and die. The visible part of fungi – mushrooms – are the least of it. They are just the flowering fruit of organisms whose threads spread out beneath the surface of forests and fields, of rivers, lakes and deserts; threads that branch and separate, change direction and reconnect. They form multi-dimensional underground networks, called mycelia, which may cover many square kilometres.

A million and a half species of fungi have been identified to date, and new ones are being discovered every day. One of their principal roles is to break down whatever they come into contact with. They specialise; so there are mycelia that break down every form of life, every plant form and every mineral. This is important since without fungi to decompose organic matter such as wood, there would be no future growth. The broken-down material becomes the soil that will nurture future generations of plant life; the plants in turn will feed insects that feed birds and animals that in turn will grow, die, decompose and so on. Without decomposition there can be no renewal and life on earth would come to a halt. This power of fungi can also be harnessed in other ways – for example, to tackle our environmental problems, as there are fungal enzymes which can breakdown oil spills into harmless hydrogen and carbon, or decompose the plastic which is polluting our oceans.

All this and much more is described by a group of academic experts. Paul Stamets, a hippyish figure, is our guide on walks through the forests, whilst Professor Suzanne Simard, whose book Finding the Mother Tree, I reviewed in a previous issue of Beshara Magazine (to read, click here) explains how larger, older trees use mycelia to exchange information and nutrients with younger smaller trees of their own species and of others. 

Next, the film enters a psychedelic world fuelled by mushrooms, focussing on their effects on humans. In the late 1950s there was a revolutionary rediscovery of many uses of mushrooms, both in the religions of indigenous peoples around the world and in western psychiatry. The film gives us some remarkable graphics with strong, psychedelic images conveying a sense of the mind released from its normal pathways. It describes the healing/spiritual powers of fungi, beginning with discoveries made by anthropologists about the use of psychedelics by the ancient Maya in Central America. They used mushrooms in both religious and in healing rituals – and still do. Then there are descriptions of mushrooms successfully prescribed in modern psychiatric and physical medicine when orthodox treatments have not succeeded. We are introduced to people in recovery from mental illness and from cancer, for whom hallucinogenic experiences with substances like psylocibin have been essential to healing.

The film takes us to the late 1950s and 60s when a generation of young Americans began to experiment with mind-altering substances for recreation. A new youth culture emerged, with music, an interest in Eastern cultures and religions, and an openness to alternative medicine. What began in California soon spread around the Western world. Behind the scenes, orthodox scientists were researching the therapeutic and technical uses of mushrooms, while the youth were enjoying their psychedelic highs in plain sight.

These young people naturally took against the American war against Communism in Vietnam, a war into which many of their generation were conscripted. What had been experimental turned political, as a generation rejected the premises behind America’s involvement in the war. As a result, President Nixon declared war on drugs of any sort. Research into the many possible uses of mushrooms in medicine and psychiatry stopped almost overnight and remained forbidden for America and its allies for quite a number of years.

It is only recently that researchers are breaking through this ban. The world they break into is one in which a new generation of young people are eager to hear what they have to say. Since the film came out in 2019, a kind of global movement has developed around it (you can connect with this through its website [/]) which brings together the many and various people who are exploring ways of working with fungi: from soil improvement to breaking down pollutants, producing new medicines and developing biopesticides. It all adds up to a rare message of hope in the face of environmental crises. Suzanne Simard tells us:

Fungi have an incredible capacity to make things change very quickly. So if we can work with them – if we can ‘get them’ – we can change things super-fast. So I am super hopeful. We have just got to get together and help nature do its thing.

Fantastic Fungi is available on Netflix.

For more on fungi, see our previous article ‘Entangled Life’

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