If that could be learned, maybe some version of Amazonian dark earth could be used to improve the vast expanses of bad soil that cripple agriculture in Africa—a final gift from the people who brought us tomatoes, corn, and the immense grasslands of the Great Plains.
In North America, Indian torches had their biggest impact on the Midwestern prairie, much or most of which was created and maintained by fire.
The film, released in 2009, represents the absolute creative nadir of Mann's 2000s obsessions and experiments with digital cinematography.