Laura Isreal’s Windfall is a compelling look at the darkside of Wind Power. Opening with several beautiful compositions the film toggles between a formalism and guerrilla documentary. A theme running between this and The Pipe, also showing in Tiff’s Real to Reel Documentary program is community division. Often those in power do not consider the unintended consequences of their actions.
Activist documentaries function to call attention to one side of a debate, normally diluting the opposition; here Israel presents a side little seen including physical and psychological hazards of wind power structures. Unseen in ads promoting clean energy are the physiological effects light and noise pollution. Many in poorer rural areas sell land leases for as little as $5,000 for 20 years.
Isreal doesn’t argue in favor of solar energy, which itself I read has its detractors, but in favor of community sponsored solar solutions. Numbers and cases can be made either way – the power of Windfall is that a case I have never heard before is made in a clear and compelling documentary told with rich characters and a solid understanding of local politics.
7 out of 10.