Power Trip

Filmmaker Paul Devlin’s richly detailed, cautionary documentary makes the point that electricity is a vulnerable commodity that we may be taking far too much for granted. Devlin takes us deep inside the attempt of the American-based multinational corporation Applied Energy Services (AES) to supply the former Soviet Republic of Georgia capital of Tbilisi with enough proficient electrical power to satisfy the needs of its more than 1 million inhabitants. It’s a brisk tour of human resilience, culture clash and corporate values in which the loss of heating and lighting is equated to a humiliating slap in the face and in which dreams of a brighter future refer to both tightly intertwined mental and physical conditions. The most stunning element of the film is the relentless motivation, ingenuity and energy of the common Georgian people, who have literally rewired their own city when faced with the lack of power.