Ideals or violence?: If a Tree Falls

Marshall Curry's 2011 document, If a Tree Falls, is a fine and very objective examination of the radical environmental movement Earth Liberation Front, told mostly through a close focus on one group member, Daniel McGowan, who was arrested and charged with terrorism, and who gave Curry seemingly unlimited access to his life during the time he was awaiting trial. First of all, as  New Englander, I was completely ignorant about this movement, which obviously was a major and somewhat scary presence, especially in the Northwest, in the last 90s - so the film was stunning and informative, at least to me. The archival footage of many demonstrations, sit-ins, and other forms of resistance is terrific - and we get a real sense of the passion of the people in this movement, the violence they confronted, and, in true dialectical spirit, how that clash between ideals and violence led to the extremely radical ELF - a group formed out of frustration with peaceful resistance. The ELF destroyed a great deal of property - houses, lodges, a sawmill - in its reputed attack on corporate America; to its credit, the ELF was scrupulous about not injuring people in its attacks (of course firefighters and others were put at great risk combating the arson), but to its detriment the ELF chose some of its targets very carelessly and was totally askew in its aims - the attacks did absolutely nothing to halt the rape of Western forests. McGowan becomes an interesting choice as the narrative center of the film, in that he's not at all our stereotype of the NW crunchy movement radicals - he's the son of a NYC cop who by his account had never spent a day or night out of doors in his life till joining the group. He was drawn to the group by girls handing out leaflets in a downtown park (Have a moment to talk about the environment? I guess that works), and became increasingly active, committed, and maybe a bit unbalanced - tearing paper of canned goods to recycle, before the cans are opened, for ex. - but also remains a sweet and sensitive young man who got in way, way over his head. As noted, Curry retains a very neutral stance - he doesn't make the factory or saw mill owners and spokesmen into cartoon villains; even the cops, whom we see mercilessly beating the protesters, scenes that made me think of the recent doc The Act of Killing, made me shamed to be an American, are reasonable and thoughtful when speaking on camera. A very fine and provocative film that will surprise and inform most viewers (esp. here in still-forested East).