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

Daniel McGowan works at a nonprofit in New York. When federal agents come to the door the charge is terrorism. In the late nineties a series of arsons was carried out in the American west: timber companies, horse slaughterhouses, a ski resort and genetic research buildings were burned. The group that claimed the actions was the Earth Liberation Front, and nobody was hurt in any of them. McGowan had taken part in some. Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman direct. The documentary was shot while McGowan was under house arrest awaiting trial. The narrative sets his account alongside those of the prosecutor and the officers who ran the investigation. The real question is the definition of terrorism. Whether actions that damage property and injure nobody count as terror was at the centre of the case, and the definition multiplied the sentences. The second subject is the movement coming apart from inside. One member talked and the others were caught on his statement; the documentary covers that directly. It was nominated for the Academy Award for documentary feature. The narrative takes no side; it neither justifies the actions nor offers an easy conviction. Who it is for: anyone interested in political documentary and the history of environmental movements. Who it is not for: the subject goes into legal detail, the pace is low, and the film reaches no clean conclusion.