Oak #419
Oak #419 is about the protest movement led by John Quigley, who spent 71 days living in a 400 year old oak tree in Los Angeles County, to try to save it from being cut down for a new highway. The roadway is to lead to the next projected 20,000 housing unit development. The movement became much bigger than just this tree, receiving great media attention, and drawing a very diverse crowd: reporters and camerapeople, people in frog suits, Latino immigrants, Filippino immigrants, cheerleaders, Native Americans and even Santa Claus. Political folk musician Fred Starner, who participated in the protest, made the music for the film. The film is about someone having the courage to stand up for what he believes in, and about trying to reclaim democracy in today's divided, neoconservative America. The tree became the "proverbial line in the sand" between nature, and the voracious urban sprawl of L.A. Can one weigh the value of nature against real estate development? What is "progress"?
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