"Land, people, food; it's a pretty simple idea," says Doris Bloch, then-president of the LA Food Bank when she founded the nation's largest community garden on 13 acres of a South Central Los Angeles still reeling from the riots in the wake of the Rodney King verdict two years prior. Operated mostly by low-income Latino immigrants who use their individual plots to feed families and nourish souls, the South Central Farm began getting lots of attention when, in 2004, the land's new owner tried to give the farmers the boot. Scott Hamilton Kennedy's Oscar-nominated documentary "The Garden" chronicles the fight that ensued, a gripping, twisty tale of backroom dealings and thinly veiled racism that played out in courts of both law and public opinion.

Like any good documentarian, Kennedy personalizes "The Garden" by introducing us to the individuals whose lives have been directly enriched by it, depicting a tireless, feisty bunch dedicated to preserving their space. We also meet those opposed to the farm's survival in its prime urban location, and as the facts surrounding the eviction come to light, things seem shadier and shadier. Though "The Garden" does raise fair questions about the farmers' rights to profit from the land without going through the proper channels, it's pretty obvious whose side Kennedy is on from the beginning, and the number of famous people that got involved made this David vs. Goliath story a cause célèbre. "Have faith that right makes might" reads the Lincoln quote as the camera pans over LA's City Hall, but money always gets the last word.