POV If A Tree Falls A Story of the Earth Liberation Front 720p x264 HDTV EZTV
Summary:
On December 7th, 2005, federal agents conducted a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front -- an organization the FBI has called America's \"number one domestic terrorism threat.\"
For years, the ELF--operating in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership--had launched spectacular arsons against dozens of businesses they accused of destroying the environment: timber companies, SUV dealerships, wild horse slaughterhouses, and a $12 million ski lodge at Vail, Colorado.
With the arrest of Daniel and thirteen others, the government had cracked what was probably the largest ELF cell in America and brought down the group responsible for the very first ELF arsons in this country.
IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT is the remarkable story of the group's rise and fall, told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan.
Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF. Using never-before-seen archival footage and intimate interviews -- with cell members and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them -- IF A TREE FALLS asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.
Drawing from striking archival footage -- much of it never before seen -- and intimate interviews with ELF members, and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them, IF A TREE FALLS explores the tumultuous period from 1995 until early 2001 when environmentalists were clashing with timber companies and law enforcement, and the word \"terrorism\" had not yet been altered by 9/11.
A Film by Marshall Curry ; A co-production of ITVS in association with American Documentary, Lucky Hat Entertainment and the BBC
POV If A Tree Falls A Story of the Earth Liberation Front 720p x264 HDTV EZTV Screenshot
