Today brings a mini-trend as this film (like Paradise Lost 3) is also a documentary that got an extremely limited theatrical release, but people should catch up with it at home. If a Tree Falls is about the “eco-terrorist” group the E.L.F. or Earth Liberation Front, as it follows a couple of the members who have been arrested for their group’s work. The real dilemma is that even though the FBI and other groups classify the E.L.F. as dangerous, they only commit property damage and are really just glorified arsonists as they go out of their way NOT to harm human life, never have, never wanted to, and refuse to accept the label of terrorist.
What Works: The film sheds light on something I wasn’t familiar with and so any documentary that does that is more successful than, say, “Why the banks are assholes Part 36.” The E.L.F. mostly comes off as a bunch of bored environmentalists who only played at being dangerous, so it’s very interesting to see such a radically different definition of “terrorist.” Most terrorists are physically fit and not very intelligent, but the E.L.F. are chubby, moon-faced, glasses-wearing dorks living out the most elaborate “Revenge of the Nerds” fantasy every committed to documentary. I think this movie is definitely worth a look for all of the interesting questions it raises.
What Doesn’t Work: The film is more interesting than riveting and far too slight. It’s only 85 minutes and anytime a movie is less than 90 it’s an automatic five point penalty as I feel ripped paying for something that can’t last as long as an episode of Saturday Night Live.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Not focused so much on the single case of one of the E.L.F. who gets about half of the movie’s screen time, and instead fanned out to make a more comprehensive doc about the movement, what it stands for, where it stands today, why liberal movements always seem to disintegrate under infighting, and the helplessness people feel in trying to protect the planet against moneyed interests. The doc covers that mostly but I wanted it to go deeper, both making the cause feel more fleshed out and creating real characters out of the people blowing up those lumber mills and horse slaughterhouses.