Power Trip (2003)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Paul Devlin

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Electricity is hope

Plot:

Corruption, assassination and street rioting surround the story of the award-winning film, Power Trip...

Plot Keywords:

Georgia Europe

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Dennis Bakke	...	Himself
Piers Lewis	...	Himself
Butch Mederos	...	Himself
Bill O'Reilly	...	Himself
Michael Scholey	...	Himself

Runtime:

Germany:85 min | USA:86 min

Country:

USA | Georgia

Language:

English | Georgian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 2004 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (2004) (TV)

A good documentary, not a great one

The purpose of Documentaries is usually to inform, but they are also the best character studies, filled with real people in real situations. Great documentaries can have social messages and come to conclusions about society (Bowling for Columbine, Fog of War) while others are great but on a much simpler and human level (Spellbound, Winged Migration). Power Trip is a documentary which attempts to do both and succeeds partially, but not completely and not to the level of greatness. It is a good film at most. It is about the electricity problem in Georgia. Director Paul Devlin interviews many people, all of them interesting, some of them touching. He interviews Piers Lewis the most, a man who will not cut his hair until they get something right in Georgia. It was filmed in the course of three years with a handheld camera, and this shows. Some of the most touching moments come when Devlin decides to show us some of the beautiful Georgian countryside, or zoom in on a child's face. Some characters are boring, though influential, some overstay their visit and some you wish for more, like an old man who shows us his vineyard in the countryside. The film is well done in the end, informative and touching at the same time. Interesting variety of characters, boring to trajic, this movie is at the same time political and individual. However at the end, it is a bit incomplete and inconclusive, which is perhaps the point, but leaves this documentary only at good.

My grade: 7/10