2012 Academy Award Nominee - If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front is a complex and fascinating take on domestic terrorism and the US’s relationship with the environment. The film premiered in competition at Sundance Film Festival 2011, where it won the Documentary Editing Award. The film has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature for the 2012 Academy Awards. It is currently on Netflix Instant Watch and Home Video. Below is a revised version of the review I wrote for my blog after seeing the film at the Independent Film Festival of Boston.

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is the name of an organization that sabotages operations that supposedly exploit or harm the environment. If a Tree Falls is an objective journalistic film from Marshall Curry that examines the scintillating moral dilemmas that result. One among many questions it asks is whether or not the Earth Liberation Front members are domestic terrorists. The film focuses on ELF member Daniel McGowan, who grew up a normal suburban teen; he began his life of environmental activism after having his eyes opened to the atrocities man commits on its environment and fellow animals.

It’s hard to choose what among the many topics to discuss. This is because this film is impressively impartial; I think the viewer can tell that Curry and his crew were figuring out their opinions on the issues as the filming took place. In fact, he was first acquainted with the situation when his wife came home from work and told him that four Federal agents arrested one of her employees for eco-terrorism. The curiosity resulting from this strange scenario birthed If a Tree Falls.

Curry asked, "How had someone like him found himself facing life in prison for terrorism? Was it accurate to use the word “terrorism” to describe property destruction in which no one was hurt? What was this shadowy group, the ELF? How had it formed and why?  What could make someone decide that arson was a reasonable response to environmental problems? Sam Cullman (Cinematographer/Co-director) and I decided to find out.“

After this film, we still don’t have any clear answers; however, examining the questions is fascinating. The most important question I faced was, how much power do the people really have in this country. After all, Daniel and the ELF were fighting for the right to have a voice, and they were denied that right several times in Oregon. Did they make a lot of errors? Yes. Do they deserve to be in jail? Absolutely. Should that sort of violence and destruction be used as a form of speech? No. However, the reason they were pushed over the edge is not inexplicably crazy or irrational. After watching this film you’ll be asking yourself whether you’d have done the same, and whether you should have.

Grade: A-