9 - "If a Tree Falls" & "L'Erreur Boréal"

Demetria Ekiridzo

Jessica Joncas

Samantha Zakher

            Life on Earth is great and very relaxing to the privileged western countries. We have the highest education on earth, food from every corner of the planet, and the most innovating technology. One can visit people in different continents in a maximum of 2 days, and can take a tour of the world by plane or boat. People are building more and more, opening places to immense innovations. However, has one every thought about the origins of these resources? Or more precisely, how it is being created? It is all and well to know that paper comes from trees, but do you know that 95% of the trees have been completely razed from the surface of the North America? Life on Earth isn’t actually that relaxing; unless, of course, you have been totally clueless up until now.

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

            “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” is a documentary directed by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, revolving around the environmentalists called the Earth Liberation Front (E.L.F). This documentary was produced in the United States in 2011 and is 85 minutes; it features Daniel McGowan, his friends, family, allies of the E.L.F and many others. Daniel McGowan was a regular kid that lived in New York City, and went to catholic school. After college, McGowan realized the impacts and the problems related to the environment, and then decided to join the environmental movement. To make a change, he started joining petitions and writings letters, trying to inform the people about what was going on with the environment. When he noticed that his first actions were not effective, he and his group of activists did property destruction and civil disobedience. McGowan and his group never intended to harm anyone, they make these actions with the only intention to bring down big corporation. When McGowan noticed that these acts of protest became dangerous he and some other member of the E.L.F drop out and continued their life in a different direction. In 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested at his workplace by federal agents for being involved into “terrorist” actions. At the end of the documentary, we see Jake Ferguson ended up walking free after traitorously giving up his friends to the federal agents. Many other E.L.F members got jail time; and for Daniel McGowan, he was sentenced to 7 years in jail.

          This video is a brief overview of the E.L.F actions :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyLcmtwk0xQ

After watching the documentary “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”, we could very well realize that the movie shows multiple point of views. These multiple points of view let the audience make their own opinion on the subject, as well as who they agree with. In the documentary, the content was quite biased towards the E.L.F. and the environmental issues. Although it is biased, the directors demonstrated a various amount of points of view and ideologies like the police officers and the investigators as well as the media and the businessmen. Daniel McGowan and other E.L.F members believed that what they were doing the right thing for the environment. They tried to deliver their message by by burning buildings and property damage. Daniel McGowan put himself out there to show his beliefs and ideologies. The documentary film tries to show what environmentalism is all about, the film implies that being an environmentalist is someone that supports nature and wants to protect it. Daniel's point of view in the film gives him a chance to show ideologies and makes himself an example to follow. One of the most important messages in this film is that we have to stand up for what we believe in. However, as shown in the film: there are limits. The E.L.F. wanted to shock the companies; however, their ways were drastic and dangerous. Due to those extreme methods, business owners lost their money and their hard work. 

When the director interviewed the business owners, they used their testimonies to make the documentary less biased. He also used many testimonies to show different ideologies about the saving the environment and how important the issue is. This documentary also added a lot of scenes showing police brutality, demonstrating these peaceful protesters getting pepper sprayed and being bombared with gas, etc. By doing so the director showed how the police has to follow what they are told even if they do not necessairly agree with their orders. What the environmentalist wanted to show to everyone else, is that our environment is getting worse every day, second by second, and if we keep going we are going to lose what is left of it.

“L’Erreur Boréale”

The film “L’Erreur Boréale” is a documentary directed by Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie. It is mostly about Quebec’s nature and how it’s being treated here. But it’s really about the deforestation in Quebec. This film was made in Quebec in 1999 and is 68 minutes long. At the beginning of the film, he interviews an elderly man called Robert Monderie; he helped make this documentary with Richard Desjardin. They start talking about Lake Vaudray, in Quebec. This man says that since he was five years old, he would come and spend his summers there. However, it’s almost all gone because such a big amount of trees have been cut down by these companies. In Abitibi, Quebec, there lies one of the biggest leather factories in the world. They poisoned tons of lakes and rivers, and cut down many important trees in Lake Vaudray. Luckily, Richard Desjardins started a petition; He received one thousand five hundred signatures to stop the leather company from cutting down more trees, on the other side of Lake Vaudray. No one really realizes what’s happening to nature; since we build walls around forests, human beings cannot witness or see how people disrespect nature, and how little they care about the trees.  This is the problem Richard Desjardins is trying to show people in his documentary. The government keeps cutting down so many trees here in Montreal. Desjardins’ goal in this film was to show us citizens that we need to make a change and we need to save the forests. When the Europeans came to North America, they had already cut all the trees of the forest. However, when Jacques Cartier came to North America, he was amazed by the nature. Back in the day, the forest in Quebec used to be two times bigger than it is now! One tree used to be enough to cut a plank of wood for a table but nowadays, they need more than just one tree. In 1910, in Quebec, a new law had been created: wood had to be transformed into paper. In 1950, Trois-Rivière became the world’s capital of paper.

            The way Richard Desjardins expresses his feelings about nature and the cutting down of the trees is great. In this film, he reveals to us, the audience, what the government and industries are trying to do through the use of pictures. He is also tells us what exactly they’re hiding from people. Desjardins says that they are cutting the trees in a disrespectful and exaggerating way; they are definitely not replanting trees, they’re taking the homes of many animals and they’re slowly killing humans. The government and the industries are not respecting the environment; all they truly care about is making a profit. We need those trees because they have the oxygen necessary for our breath and survivals, our food and animals, our well being, etc.

 Check out this short video that demonstrates the changes happening to Quebec's forest.  ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgspXk58NVc

            

 The concept of this film is to teach us the importance of nature and trees. Industries have to stop cutting down so many trees. There aren’t many trees left in the world. Nobody realizes how important the environment and soon it’s all going to be gone. 

         This film presents one clear ideologie, that we have to be careful and change our ways before all our forest get cut down. L'erreur boréale denounce the clean cuts happening in the nordique forest.  Desjardins uses this film to show the issue of deforestation in Quebec and uses statistics to support his claims.

         At the end of the documentary, Desjardins shows pictures to students studying nature; those picture demonstrate what people are doing to the forest. He shows them what the industries have done to Lake Vaudray, and how there aren’t many trees left: they are quite shocked, because they’ve never seen the forest like that. Ignorance is prevalent throughout the society: Important information is withholden from naturalists themselves!

Our Thoughts on the Films

These films are very eye-opening to some, and a complete joke to others. It shows us how urgent the problem of ecology is, and yet how many people ignore it. These films can be seen as pretty challenging: to get their point across, some people decide to cause damage through their method of arson, but they keep on going until they are heard, yet they mostly manage to be seen as terrorists, and their purpose is completely invisible. It is very shocking to see how far people can go for simple trees. However, it is understandable when we see how much damage one has caused to the environment. It is very weird to see such an extremist side of the environment, since it is usually treated as an exagerated issue. The environment has become a real issue as seen the both movies our forests and environments are being destroyed and we need to take action. These films invite us to treat the environment more seriously, and to realise how much damage we are causing. Throughout the world, about 900 million trees are cut down annually, as of 2014. We never seem to realise how much we’re killing the earth because we are so desensitised to its issues. Watching these films is like taking a bath in cold water, gasping and coming back to the surface, and realising you are very much awake, but that you have chosen to be sleepy and blind. Littering, buying books, using too much water, has always been done without a care in the world. However, we now have a guilty feeling in the back of our heads. With every meter you drive with a car, another dent is put in the Earth’s lifespan.

The film “L’Érreur Boréale” was eye-catching because we got to see how so many industries treat our environment in such disgusting ways. Desjardins showed us what an industry had done to Lake Vaudray and I thought it was just so sad to see someone’s home being destroyed like that. Every year, more and more poor animals become extinct, due to human actions. It is sad to see those beautiful creatures be gone forever. 

 It is not very likeable to be treated as Earth’s criminals. No one likes to be seen as a hateful and disgusting person, yet these films has human beings be seen like so. It is trying to make us realize and make us accept that with every action we take, we are causing environmental damage. Seeing all the police brutality against peaceful protesters is shocking: it is unbelievable that the government itself is fully ignoring the damage they are causing to the environment, and are weeding out the people who do care about it. Image after image, scene after scene, the message of these films finally get embedded in our brain, and we feel somewhat guilty. Obviously, it is too difficult and almost impossible to radically change our lifestyle, but small actions are better than nothing.

            I would say that the filmmaker have done a good job in conveying their ideas; it was a bit shocking to see how developed of a crime the eco-terrorists have done, without being a single bit guilty about it, in the moment. It is good to see how they’ve reflected on it, without degrading the purpose of it. However, it is a bit unnecessary to see how much empathy the filmmakers wants us to pour in the film to feel bad for Daniel. It is important that we see him as a human being, but seeing to much of him in a positive light erases the crimes he has done. Desjardins has done a successful job of demonstrating how intensely important information is hidden from us, with the example of naturalists students being shocked at his pictures. The anecdotes were also interesting, yet not totally convincing without the proof of solid evidence.
          
          After watching these two documentary, we realized that we should take action to save the planet. Just looking at my neighborhood the municipality is taking over our forest to build condos. I remember when I just moved in, their was only two or three streets present in my development and now there is about 10 to 12 streets. This has made me open my eyes to what the environment is facing. The two documentary made me notice that the I need to take action, so lately I tried taking care of the environment even more, I have tried to reduce my ecological footprint.   

To conclude, we shall end with the obvious; the environment is extremely, tremendously, important. ‘If A Tree Falls’ demonstrate how desperate the environmentalists are, for the cause is urgent: L’Erreur Boréale, likewise. Both films show us the effects of the long-term damage we have created.  We must realise how much damage we are causing to the Earth, and we must change our lifestyles to ensure a better life for us and the future generations. We need to rally against the corporations who ignore the damage they cause on Earth, and protest peacefully, because extreme reaches will only bring us backwards. Going slow yet steady is the best method. However, are we truly capable of change?

Want to help make a change, here are 10 simple things you can do to make the planet healthier.

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ocean/earthday.html