In 1999, the major American utility company AES Corporation spent over 30 million dollars to purchase the former Soviet Republic of Georgia's electrical distributing company, Telasi, in a bid to expand the American company's international market share. In his 2003 documentary entitled Power Trip, filmmaker Paul Devlin examined the actions of the Georgian citizenry and governmental officials, as well as those taken by the AES management team. What looked good on paper turned into a series of
major business setbacks, as the Republic of Georgia had been beset with constant domestic turmoil since the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Quite nearly from the beginning of the Telasi buy-out, the AES upper management team was presented with numerous seemingly unpredictable and insurmountable obstacles which included the extremely low incomes of the vast majority of the population and pervasive governmental corruption. As the American company struggled to single-handedly update a nearly Third World economy, the Georgian populace was merely struggling to exist. Power Trip was a included in the program for the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi
Highlights the disparity between the people and their exorbitant bills, but it's also a brief history of modern Georgia, a country whose citizens are frequently failed by their government.
Devlin's movie deals with transition and displacement in the former Soviet Union. It introduces us to a highly committed international work force and to disgruntled Georgians. The movie also immerses us in a conflict that appears irreconcilable.
The entire film has a feeling of bemusement to it, as if filmmaker Devlin can scarcely believe it's happening. It plays like a surreal comedy of errors.
A lively fly-on-the-wall view of the clash between old-line Communist inefficiency and well-intended capitalist progress -- and the people caught in the middle.
Lewis is a likable presence (he's the one person who seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing), and the quick primer in recent Russian history is quite welcome.
The subject matter may sound dry on the surface, but, within the myriad problems the human race creates for itself, it crackles with an electrical charge
Devlin provides a fascinating sociological study of intercultural misunderstanding and unrealistic expectations viewed through the prism of a single problem rife with social, political and economic implications.
If you actually want to learn something while watching a movie, this could be a good pick for you.--I found it enlightening to see inside the reality of a former Soviet Republic, Gerogia (not actually Russia..Sorry about that, but I ran out of space in my title block.)--This is a documentary showing the obstacles to
progress and industrial privatisation in the former Soviet Union states.--The U.S. based global power conglomerate that is trying to bring a self-sustaining modern power system to the state of Georgia has many obstacles, from nepotistic corruption, to the communist era mindsets of the populace. This movie can be very informative about the reality of Soviets lives, in the modern era.It also is a saddening story about the corruption that ultimately pervades the soviet governments and restrains the Soviet people from greater progress in the struggle to have a better life. Tim
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