Saturday Morning Documentary: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

When I hear the term “eco-terrorism”, I can’t help but laugh.  It’s a word that seems like such an oxymoron that I don’t take it seriously because the meanest thing I have seen environmental protesters do is to block roads by sitting on them, or chaining themselves to trees so prevent them from being cut down.  This eco-terrorism is nothing compared to, for example, the terrorists connected to 9/11.  Right?

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front is a documentary by Marshall Curry (who also did the fantastic documentary Street Fight) which examines a so-called eco-terrorist group called the ELF.  Founded in Eugene, Oregon, the film follows one of the ex-members, Daniel McGowen, as he first waits out his home arrest time and then his legal proceedings.  From there, Curry intersperses interviews with McGowen and a few other ex-members of the ELF about the beginnings of the group, and some of their plans, including the arson of a slaughterhouse for horses.  A lot of people on the boards on imdb have commented how remarkably balanced the film is: it also features interviews of the company owners of the burned buildings, an ex-police chief who had to deal with “violent” protesters, which is cleverly juxtaposed with archival footage of police beating and attacking quite peaceful protesters, including deliberately pepperspraying some people simply doing a sit-in.  “You can’t help but take it personal when someone throws a rock at you,” says the police chief, as the officers smear pepperspray into screaming protesters– both in pain, and at the authorities for doing such an unwarranted act.  Through explanations as to why the ELF began doing the things they did, mainly out of frustration that nothing was being done through the peaceful ways they had always been doing, the film really does a good job at creating sympathy then for McGowen and the possibility that he will spend the rest of his life not just in jail, but in a special jail created for terrorists (created after 9/11).

There are some very affecting moments in the film, and I do wish that this film was more widely known/distributed.  It did manage to get nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars, which always helps. I think Curry knows what a good documentary is all about, and I wouldn’t doubt that he’ll get his Oscar one of these days.  Though not a flawless film, If a Tree Falls handles a tricky and controversial subject that, ultimately, has its roots in something deeper: as Daniel McGowen puts it in the film, if no one hears you screaming, what’re you supposed to do?

The ELF graffiti some words after an arson.

Saturday Morning Documentary: Winged Migration

Yes, this film is about birds and them flying around the world.  What the film makes up in lack of plot or story is done with fantastic, gorgeous cinematography.  Climbing great heights to fly alongside or even below the birds, this documentary that took 3 years to film was nominated for an Oscar in 2003.  Produced in France, Winged Migration follows several species of birds as they, well, migrate over vast distances all around the world.  Their difficult and arduous journeys make you — or at least me — see birds in a different light; they are really tough creatures, arguably tougher than humans.

A must-see for all nature lovers or if you want to have a new respect for our feathered friends.

Birds in Winged Migration

Vine

Hooray for terrible teenage poetry.

Vine

Green tentacles of
the monster wrap
about the garden. Its
life is drained.

Saturday Morning Documentary: BBC Life

Swordfish and a shoal of fish

Following in the tradition of fantastic fascinating documentary series produced by the BBC is Life. After the worldwide acclaim for Planet Earth, Life stepped in after for those who want a high-definition look at our world.  The series, ten episodes in total, covers various species and, well, life forms around our planet–from the first episode, Challenges of Life, to whales in Mammals, to even unique vegetation in Plants, this series is arguably on par with, if not better, than Planet Earth.  The original British series is hosted once again by David Attenborough, while the US version is narrated by Oprah; I’ve read many comments about how bad Oprah is as a narrator so I’d stick with Attenborough’s narration instead.

There really isn’t much I can say about this series except that the images and cinematography are phenomenal and captivating.  My favourite episode is probably Mammals (ep. 3) or Fish (ep. 4); there’s a sequence where the crew is filming flying fish and it looks like nothing I’ve seen before.

Though the episodes are an hour in length, the last 15 minutes are a unique behind-the-scenes/making-of documentary within a documentary, giving viewers a glimpse of the challenges of filming, the different and exotic locations they traveled to, and their interaction with the animals.  In the second episode, Reptiles and Amphibians, the crew must get extremely close to Komodo dragons in order to film them, putting their lives at risk amongst the unpredictable animals.  And in the Insects episode, the crew struggles to get their camera high enough in the trees with limited daylight to film monarch butterflies in South America (or was it Mexico?).

All in all, Life is definitely worth checking out especially if you enjoyed Planet Earth.  I’ll admit that the first episode left me a little disappointed but the following episodes featured some pretty amazing, cool, and of course, bizarre things on Earth.

BBC Life