(USA, 95 min.)
Written and directed by John Fiege
“It says keep back 500 ft. on that machine but it’s coming
much closer,” says one of the impassioned activists in Above All Else as he observes a large rig clear-cutting trees on
the property of Texas naturalist David Daniel. The large machines, operating
for TransCanada, devastate the environment to facilitate the growth of the
Keystone XL pipeline. They come dangerous—almost fatally—close to the
environmental activists housed in the treetops of Daniel’s beautiful property.
Barely twenty feet separate the blades of the machine and the falling tree from
the activists who sit placidly in the trees and capture the destruction of the forests
through the lenses of their camera. Above
All Else shows just how close big business is willing to threaten the lives
of individuals as it forges ahead in the name of “progress.”
Above All Else, which screens in Ottawa September 25th as the opening night film of the One World Film Festival, deserves to be an eye-opening experience for Canadians as they sit and watch this story depicting the plight of some impassioned Texans. This fight comes from the heart of America’s oil company, and the unexpected outcry from the people of Winnsboro demands to be heard. Canadians see some consequences of the Alberta Tar Sands in the media and other eco-minded docs, but Above All Else puts a human face on the global consequences wrought by this transnational endeavour of the big Canadian corporation. While Above All Else focuses primarily on the efforts of one concentrated group of individuals to save their land and environment, seeing the film from an outsider’s perspective truly gives the implications of their battle a global scope.
Director John Fiege (Mississippi
Chicken) creates a fiercely political documentary in the vein of Barbara
Koppel’s Harlan County USA by taking
a stand with the individuals who band together against TransCanada and fight
for their rights on the front lines. The film intimately observes Daniel, his
neighbours, and the young people he inspires as it gives them their platform to
explain how their land came under the jurisdiction of TransCanada through
deception, intimidation, and litigation. Fiege lets the passion of David Daniel
and his neighbours convey clearly and passionately that the efforts to plough
the Keystone pipeline ahead are clearly not in the interests of all Americans.
Daniel and his neighbours have created safe-havens for nature, places so green
and tranquil they carry an aura of otherworldly escapism, and their fight to
protect the land for the future demands greater concern.
Above All Else
also shows the futility of the struggle, for the pressure that TransCanada
places on Daniel and his band of treetop activists is akin to a steamroller as
it ploughs through the land with little regard for the consequences. The final
act of Above All Else powerfully
captures the vice grip in which Daniel is placed as TransCanada pressures him
to choose between his family and the future he hopes to preserve for them.
Whereas a film like Harlan County USA
finds strength in numbers, Above All Else
provocatively depicts the silencing of activism and the greater cry that
comes as a response.
The film shows the political power of capitalism as the
economic demands of few regulate the needs of many and pull the strings on
political officers to get the deal done. Excerpts from Presidential debates,
for example, remind audiences of President Obama’s eagerness to explore the
Keystone project fully in order to ensure it meets the interests of all
Americans, yet cuts to later protests and speeches show Obama’s capitulation.
The irony stands that Daniel’s initial agreement with Keystone comes from the
false information that they had a Presidential permit to move forward with the
pipeline, and it was only later that Daniel discovered that Obama still hadn’t
allegedly given TransCanada a legal greenlight.
Canada itself inadvertently comes off as an unseen evil in Above All Else, and the effect is
chilling for a Canadian viewer. Each time one of the victims and activists drop
the word “TransCanada” with disgust, one cringes at consequences that Canadian
businesses and the Harper government are willing to inflict on our neighbours
to the south. The remorse one feels watching Above All Else directly echoes the sentiment that the film’s
subjects voice to Fiege. “This is important to me, but also to people
globally,” says landowner Julia Trigg as Above
All Else effectively situates the plights of the Winnsboro community within
a larger struggle. The neighbours voice regret that their actions come too
little too late, and any Canadian watching the film must feel some degree of
regret (or even complicity) that our government lets companies that bear our
name adversely impact the lives of others. The human face the film puts in
opposition to the Keystone pipeline makes the film immensely relatable.
Above All Else
handsomely and compellingly crafts a plea to preserve the wilderness for future
generations as Fiege assembles a strong range of arguments and testimonies that
assert that the crude exports of the Tar Sands outweigh the financial gain. The
film rallies a sense of community as it presents views from treetops that may
never hold up a camera again. The last image, though, which frames Daniel’s
young daughter wading in the stream and waiting for the fish to come, subtly reminds audiences that their future is at stake.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Above All Else screens in at the One World Film Festival on
Thursday, Sept. 25 at 6:30 pm at Library and Archives Canada (395 Wellington
St.).
The screening
features a discussion with filmmakers John Fiege and Anita Grabowski, and Ben
Powless of Ecology Ottawa. The discussion
is moderated by Susan Johnston (30 min).
Director Jon Fiege
will also be doing a master class with the festival on Saturday at Club SAW (67 Nicholas St.) from 2pm
– 4pm. Admission is free.
Please visit http://oneworldarts.ca/film/about
for more information on this year’s festival.
