Forest+For+the+Trees+-+Helinski


 * The Forest for the Trees **

1. Title, director and release year? - The Forest for the Trees o (2005) o Bernadine Mellis  2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? - The central argument of this film is basically to carry out the work of Judi Barry who dedicated her life to stopping the deforestation of our environment and exposing the corruption of our legal system. She was dedicated to showing the people who controls aspects of this country.  3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? - This films draws out a large spectrum of issues ranging from the most obviously such as the effects of deforestation to such hidden issues as how media controls how the public perceives information. It also draws out the concept of governmental corruption and how power is being mistreated outside of the view of the average American citizen. -   4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?- - <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The footage of Judi giving her deposition was very moving because not many people have heard anything from her perspective or have given anything she said to be of value because she is viewed as the crazy activist. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The evidence such as the nails that linked Judy Bari to the bomb were unbelievable o <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The revealing that they were not related at all yet still used by FBI as evidence against her just shows the extent that the FBI was going to link Judi to the explosion because they had no solid information that could have been used. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Judy supporting the non violence treaty coinciding with the time that she started to receive death threats <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The evidence that was used to link Judi to the crime is outrageous. There were so many outrageous accusations made towards her while she didn’t even have a criminal history and was involved in a group that was speculated to be dangerous by only some people. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The amount of dedication that was given to the case from Cunningham is very inspirational that he believed in it so much that he was willing to dedicate all of his work until the conclusion of the case. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Boyle teaching bomb school a month before the incident is very suspicious and gives a strong link to him and the crime. It is just one of the many things that seem to be more than just coincidences. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The outcome of the trial was something that I hoped unfolded through all of the efforts that were put into the case and I was extremely happy to see that it ended up in such a large favor for Judi. o <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">4.4 million dollars to the damages of Judy Bari is an amazing outcome and definitely exceeds what I thought was going to happen. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> 5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Some of the talk that was explaining the strategies of the approaches to the judicial case lost me because I do not have any kind of knowledge or understanding of law. A lot of terms were used that I was unsure of what they meant so I did not grasp the full understanding of what was being said. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I wish that there was more of history on some of the organizational groups that were talked about and what their histories were. How did they get involved in what they did and what id has to do along the lines with Earth First! <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> 6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.? <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Other actions of environmental groups that have drawn much public media coverage and what was covered by the media versus what actually unfolded. I am curious to see the level of intervening that was done by the media. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Researching other examples of the government and officials being corrupted would be interesting to look into further after seeing this film. Information specifically to as to what they have done to fight environmental groups would be something after interest following this film. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> 7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems? <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">This film is a great one to show to individuals who are unaware that events such as this one have occurred in the past because it is a great depiction of what happened and what kind of unmoral acts have been carried out by Federal employees. It would be good to show to first timers of the subject matter but would only be beneficial to show what actions have been taken in the past; besides that concept the film has some higher education material that the same first timers would not grasp completely. For the educational value of the film I think it would be best show to individuals who have some previous knowledge in the judicial field. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> 8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film? <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There are no actions that are straight out suggested to the viewers of the film. The only things that come to mind would be a analytical evaluation of the judicial system to ensure that events like this are not repeated in the future. A greater focus on equal treatment may need to be taken into account to prevent the unfair events that took place in this film. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> 9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- A brief historical overview of EarthFirst and other organizations for the environment would have given some more information on the background of their movements would have allowed people to see it from the perspective of the environmentalists. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Being able to view some more information on the court proceedings would have been nice as well. Hear the struggle from a lawyer’s perspective would have been interesting view on the matter. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- What other events like those that happened to Judi Barry hav occurred in the past and not been covered in detail by the media? Have events similar to these happened before? If so, what events are similar to those and how were they allowed to happen again to Judi Barry?