Holguin-VerasLuisAnnotation2

The Forest For The Trees (2004) by Bernadine Mellis

There are two central issues that the film illustrates. The first one is that it shows the amount of the deforestation that has occurred within the United States. While the other issue it shows is what happened to Judy Bari by the hands of both the FBI and the local police.
 * __**Political**__ – The FBI identified Earth First as a dangerous criminal terrorist organization. The FBI viewed any form of legal good organization to be a threat to national security. Judy had some political power with the local mill owners and loggers because she was on good terms with them.
 * __**Legal**__ – Judy was accused by the FBI that she was on her way to place a bomb at some given location with the intent to cause harm to people or property. However as a result of her negligence, the bomb that she presumably made had exploded underneath her seat. The FBI was using stall tactics to stall the court case for several years. Sadly, this was only a civil case and not a criminal case. As a result, whatever the result of the trial was, there would be no blame placed upon the FBI, if Judy was found innocent.
 * · In addition, there were other things that the FBI did or did not do that should have made the legal aspect of the FBI’s case against Judy suffer. It had already been known that Judy had been threatened countless times but unknown person/s. However for some unknown reason, the FBI did not investigate any of these claims even thou one of their own forensic experts had stated that the threat given to Judy was a legit threat.
 * · One must not forget that there was a clear conflict of interest on the part of the FBI when it was revealed that one of the top FBI officials had given lessons on bomb preparation to the log corporations less than a week before. Additionally the FBI and the local policed blamed each other on who was responsible for what happened to Judy. Sadly however, salt was still added to the wounds of the Judy side when the judge of the case would not give all the needed resources that were needed to defend Judy.
 * __**Media and Informational**__ – The information was leaked to the public that revealed the FBI’s view on any form of legit organizations. Also most of the public was only shown information that made Judy look as thou she was a terrorist.
 * __**Economic**__ – The owner of the small mill said that the big log corporations want the loggers and the environmentalists to keep on fighting. Otherwise without the fighting, the corporations would need to follow strict government guidelines that stated that they would need to protect the forest.
 * **__Ecological__** – Countless old growth and other trees have already been cut down. As one logger put it “it looked like the face of the moon.”

The part of the film was most persuasive was in regards to the FBI. The FBI clearly had reasons to use anything in their power to screw with Judy Bari. There were several instances that the evidence that was shown in the case actually contradicted the FBI’s claims against Judy. I cannot say there were instances that the film compelled me to do anything.

The additional information that the film caused me to seek out is any information about Judy herself. I want to find any information about who she is and how she lived her life. I also want to find the information that revealed the FBI’s view on legal organizations like Earth First.

The audience that the film best addresses is anyone who wants to protect something for a cause. This film shows that you must be wary of what the people in power can do to you. Even thou we may not live in North Korea, Cuba or one that steps on the rights of peoples, people here must understand that it sometimes still is possible to occur within our own borders.

The film did a good job at showing the various perspectives of the people involved. It showed the position that Judy took and the FBI's view towards people like Judy. In addition it showed both the view of the local loggers and the corporations that log. The film was not overly balanced in that it for the most part showed the Judy was correct and that the FBI was the one who was mostly at fault. It did not preach to the viewers at all, it may have shown the various views of people like Judy but did not preach about it in anyway.