If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front 2011

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: The gripping documentary If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front offers an intimate look at the radical environmental group. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: The film's sobriety and carefully balanced arguments make it an exemplary piece of reporting, although its emotional heat rarely rises to a boil. Read more

Sam Adams, Time Out: Considering its incendiary subject, Curry's approach is disarmingly tame; perhaps reframing the debate in less volatile terms is some kind of lukewarm triumph. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: The problem is that the heart of the movie is McGowan. He's just not a very compelling figure. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's tempting to watch If a Tree Falls doc about a scraggly group of ecoterrorists with a chip of skepticism on your shoulder. Yet the film creates a fantastic moral ambivalence. Read more

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: A trenchant examination of radical environmentalism and the implications of domestic terrorism laws. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: An informative, if troubling, narrative about the future of the environmental movement. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Despite their efforts to address most sides of this complex story, each new interview leaves us wanting to know even more. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Though it is amusing watching the ring fall apart, "Goodfellas"-style, as the terrorists rat on each other, the film's sense of grievance will be shared by few. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: This is a sterling example of journalistic documentary, clearer, fairer and more engrossing than any of the sensationalistic newspaper or magazine stories about ELF. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Unless you are a true believer in the tenets of deep ecology, the film may seem more like an apology for the group's dangerous activities. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Watching it may not change anyone's ideology, but it will force you to see the players as complex people with understandable motivations. Read more

John Anderson, Variety: A gimlet-eyed glimpse into the roots of terrorism and the politics behind its prosecution. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: Takes us through reams of fascinating drama, from the first heroic forest-saving protests to the reactive police violence and resulting dead-of-night firebombs to the core group's implosion after the FBI tightens the net. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: Curry tells a compelling tale about the differences of opinion over what constitutes desperate measures, and how readily we throw around a term like terrorism. Read more