“When the bamboo flowers, famine, death and destruction will soon follow.”

This daunting saying used by the Northeast Indian Mizo tribe, serves as the basis of this one-hour documentary which follows the dramatic flowering of their native bamboo.
A look at this village on the verge of disaster

In the tiny hill state of Mizoram, vast plantations of bamboo mysteriously bloom once every 48 years. After the massive flowering, millions of leftover bamboo seeds attract overwhelming numbers of rats, who, after quickly exhausting the supply of seeds, turn to the crops of the surrounding villages. And so the proverb completes itself.

The last flowering of 1958 killed tens of thousands of villagers. Now, in 2006, the tribes anxiously watch on as the bamboo starts to flower again. When the Bamboo Flowers follows this mysterious phenomenon, capturing the fears of the Mizo tribe, who look to cease this unwelcome cycle of famine, death and destruction.