Windfall

The inhabitants of the town of Meredith, New York were unanimously in favor of wind energy: after all, what did they know about it? This all changed when an ambitious power company decided to plant a number of wind turbines in their backyard. Initially, some residents were still positive - in no small part because they thought this might bring them in a few dollars. Nonetheless, after a rude awakening, the majority eventually came down heavily against the plans. Windfall follows the residents of Meredith - in their still idyllic environment - as they make their decisions. This process includes a trip to a fully operational wind turbine park at Tug Hill, upstate New York. Here, the local population is up in arms, and experts make mincemeat out of the supposed benefits of the wind turbine industry, which they say offers a specious solution to the energy problem and the greenhouse effect: "It's not green energy, it's greed!" In this statement against the wind energy business, Laura Israel pulls out every propaganda trick in the book: first carefully set out the opposition's viewpoints, then mercilessly obliterate them with a storm of complaints and objections from experts and people with experience. Skyline destruction and noise pollution are prominent among the objections, but the turning blades are apparently also bad for bats. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)