Somehow I just noticed this, but if you have a chance to catch PBS’s Independent Lens tonight (airing locally on Thirteen at 10 PM, you’ll be able to see the film Power Trip, a fascinating documentary about what happened when a for-profit American corporation bought and tried to run the previously state-owned-and-operated electric company in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Not to get too cliche here, but the film is a tragic-comedy of dramatic proportions. Really, it’s quite unbelievable. The situation in Georgia was so bad that musicians even wrote songs about it. One lyric featured on the film’s Independent Lens web site reads as follows:
I’m home, I’m tired.
There’s no electiricity in my house.
There’s no electricity in the whole town.
I don’t believe in Telasi… I want electricity.
Almost Ramones-like, eh? (“Telasi” is the name of the electric company in the film.)
I saw it last year around this time because the film was nominated for Best Documentary at the IFP Spirit Awards. Up against Errol Morris’ The Fog of War, it didn’t have much of a chance, but that’s not becaue it’s not a wonderful picture in its own right. I highly suggest you watch or record it. If anything, to you fellow New Yorkers out there, even with memories of last year’s blackout relatively fresh, Power Trip will make you reconsider how magnificent (comparatively) our electrical system is here in the U.S.
By the way, if you have Time Warner digital cable, you can catch repeats of plenty of PBS shows via WNET World, a digital channel somewhere in the 700 range (maybe 713? not sure). If you miss Power Trip tonight, it will be replayed on WNET World tomorrow (1/26) at 7:30 PM and on Thursday (1/27) at 2 AM, 8 AM and 2 PM. So there’s really no excuse not to record it at some point over the next 48 hours.
Out of Focus