Battle in Seattle- Anti-Capititalism on the Big
Screen
Townsend's
interpretation of the famous Battle in Seattle, where the World Trade
Organisation was shut down due to the emergence of what the media labelled
the anti-globalisation movement has finally hit the big screen, and it
doesn't get much bigger (in Dublin) than the prestigous Savoy Screen
Number 1!
The whirlwind fictional interpretation of the event
which launched the global phenomenon of Anti-capitalism has finally hit
the big screen Stuart Townsend a famous actor from Howth (I don't think
i've seen anything he's in!) has given what has been a fundamental part of
our collective experience a fictionalised treatment and presented it to us
in the cinema. This is important as he has given the whole issue a very
sympathetic treatment even though he wasn't part of the protests back in
1999 in Seattle. The film gives a rapid history of who what where when and
why of the WTO and the 5 W's of the movement which emerged to tackle
it.
Yes there's a love story, complex personal stories around the event
itself, views from side of the Police, the Mayor of Seattle, the pressures
as the National guard were to be called in- all to lend an air of balance
and credibility- who in Hollywood will fund and distribute a guerrilla
movie of what actually happened then ( yes there's lost of alternatives-
post them all up)? Yes Stuart in the Q & A session after explained how
he researched it. He said it was all internet based research, and it
shows. there's a depth and a quality to how the story is shown and told,
not from a workers or black block viewpoint but from the viewpoint of some
of the affinity group organisers. It's always easier to tell a story from
a finite viewpoint especially from such a scale of protest and as a result
the overall story of how the tens of thousands of protesters from all over
the Northern and Southern American Hemispheres' managed to organise to
shut down the WTO wasn't conveyed.
However this article is not to
knock the wonderful efforts of the film. Since Seattle there has been much
ground made over highlighting the issues around global capitalism and it's
been very uneven to say the least. But the battle for ownership of the
stories and who tells those stories has been an interesting one. The
Indymedia phenomenon has been one of those, bypassing or challenging
received news by letting those who don't have a voice have a voice and
thereby challenging the corporate media is one of those. When the stories,
issues and debates around anti-capitalism are given a Hollywood treatment
it is important how that's conveyed.
Many of the audience
consisted of people who had participated in Genoa, Florence, Evian,
Gottenburg and Scotland against the G8. Some lamented their love life was
far less glamourous than portrayed in the film and the cushiness of police
cells in Seattle compared to the treatment many received at the hands of
the European police. But there was a palpable excitement that retelling
that story in cinema does validate a recent history of resistance- it is a
story worth telling and we want more.
The film ends with that
undying optimism that another world is possible and worth fighting for, a
message which carries through right the whole of the film. The film does
end on Seattle but refers to many of the global protests which are not
Eurocentric and sees the resistance passing throughout the globe from
Philipines, Korea, Venezuela, and Honduras to name a few.
This
ain't a definitive review, just some quick notes to go with some pictures
some would like to see. And yes Stuart Townsend did mention Tara and the
M3, not in a favourable light of course. Townsend and Theron are part of
the good guys. He described how difficult it was to get a distributor for
the film and how he was finalising that particular deal.
Is this
film worth going to see? Definitely.
(c) Paula Geraghty
![Click on image to see full-sized version battle_inseattle3.jpg](files/460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_battle_inseattle3.jpg)
![Click on image to see full-sized version battle_inseattle1.jpg](files/460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_battle_inseattle1.jpg)
![Click on image to see full-sized version Question from Dr. Ní Bhróilcain](files/460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_battle_inseattle4.jpg)
Question from Dr. Ní Bhróilcain
![Click on image to see full-sized version Paparazzi moment](files/460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_battle_inseattle6.jpg)
Paparazzi moment
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Comments (10 of 10)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10I was part of the audience on the day and thoroughly enjoyed the film. Stuart Townsend is a genius and if this is only the start of his career as a Director then he has set a very high standard for himself indeed.
He has used his power very wisely in choosing the subject matter and conveying it to the masses in film. A brave debut. I am sure that it must have been a privelege for him to do so as much as it was for us to watch it. Battle in Seatle is a stunning, powerful, evocative film that will stay with you, making you want to know more, to Do more.
It achieves its aim, awakening, informing, raising awareness. We need more films like this one.
In the questions and answer session afterwards it was brilliant to hear him lambast the Govt over the M3 Motorway. This was greeted by hoops and hollers and resounding applause.
Maybe someday he might make a film about the Tara scandal. Sure would love to see that.
Carmel
Pity we may have to wait a year before we can actually see the film.
Just out of curiosity, what was the question posed by Dr Ni Bhrolchain?
Hi,
She asked a very good question about the responsibility of Hollywood towards what it produces and commended Stuart on his film.
He answered by pointing out that Hollywood and the film industry in general is about Buisness, Show Buisness and comedy and horror sell.
Lets hope Battle in Seatle sells out everywhere when it finally gos on general release. It would be fantastic to see it start a trend in this genre of film making. There are too many mediocre offerings in cinema at the moment.
Carmel
Great to see your review Paula.
The question I should have asked and thought about asking has been mentioned by Carmel.
When is he planning to film the Tara story. He will be the right man for that thorny subject! Or maybe, like all of us, he's too close to the issue.
There were many other much better and interesting questions asked by others rather than by myself.
Great film, I loved it, enjoyed is probably the wrong word, I found it very upsetting. There was quite also the extraordinary sensation of sitting in the theatre with a community of activists - not the usual film audience in one place at one time.
build our own.
Lets not trivialise, personalise or fetishise our stories. Who needs stars and paps in their sick embrace.
Seattle Prelude
http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_a_showdown_in_seattle
People Unite Police Riot
http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_b_showdown_in_seattle
Occuppied seattle
http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_c_d_showdown_in_seattle
Unwilling Captives
http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_d_showdown_in_seattle
What Democracy Looks Like
http://www.archive.org/details/ddtv_186_e_showdown_in_seattle
Also showing on DublinCommunityTV - cable 802
When one argues not to trust the media there is currency but when 'slebs' who are rooted in and wish to reflect an under reflected and undermined part of our history of resistance and hope, do you knock it or not? One highlights the alternatives naturally but what has wider mass appeal? There is legitimacy in acknowledging that. It's not quiet the same as Bono. Reflecting ourselves to ourselves is a small if significant part of that process, but there ain't nothing like a big screen reflection. We don't have that big screen. Let's get that big screen!
Now talk to us!
How is it different to Bono?
The collective experience of a screening is important - I've been happy to haul big screens into warehouses so we can show media in this way - and know you've done the same pollytix ;).since you got us the big screen.
But personally I wouldn't view this film as anything more than entertainment - the commodification and neutering of something that was genuinely revolutionary.
If you want information or a decent reflection on what happened in Seattle watch the series I linked to, produced by the worlds first independent media centre.
If you want to communicate to people about what happened seed a torrent, burn a dvd, start a tv station.
If you want to see a love story in 3 acts against a back drop of rioting (this week - next week its alien invasion, week after its famines) then buy the popcorn, park your brain and hand €8.50 to be shared out amongst the cocaine budgets of various self important non entities.
don't get your politics from hollywood.
You can also make a film!
You can also make a film!
Is the Republic of Ireland's legal profession (and many others elsewhere INCLUDING the European Union???) at the present time simply mimicking that of the United States of America?
Anybody wishing to get a very quick and very deep insight into how the legal profession now operates in the United States (as described by a United States lawyer), can do so by watching the short, high-quality video interview at http://www.cinemazo.com/TheFixer.wmv
For those interested in stopping (or at least significantly reducing) all of the growing and very tangled network of abuse in question, which of course includes that connected with the Hill of Tara and surrounds, by having United Nations human rights law taken much more seriously - and properly enforced for EVERYBODY - there is an interesting web site at the following address: http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/