Windfall | Film review

Approaching an environmental issue from a counterintuitive angle, this documentary on the dangers of wind-power development in Meredith, New York, certainly makes the case against putting turbines in residential areas: They bring noise, vibrations and a host of attendant psychological issues. The film also damningly traces a pattern of coercion and greed that extends from industry to federal and local governments. Still, Windfall only belatedly gets around to providing a frame of reference. What will stop global warming? How should we get our power? The dangers posed by Big Wind seem mild when compared to those of hydrofracking, a technology memorably immolated in Josh Fox’s Gasland (and one that, by the way, New York State legislators are currently considering). The community advocacy is heartening, the information valuable; the repetitive treatment, however, is less than breezy.