Battle in Seattle- Anti-Capititalism on the Big Screen

international | arts and media | feature

Sunday February 24, 2008 00:32

by Paula Geraghty

mspgeraghty at yahoo dot ie

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

Question from Dr. Ní Bhróilcain

Paparazzi moment

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Comments (10 of 10)

Power to the People

by Carmel Ni Dhuibheanaigh

Wed Feb 20, 2008 13:54

I 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

Question from the audience

by Libertylover

Wed Feb 20, 2008 14:54

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?

Question

Wed Feb 20, 2008 15:23

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

Thanks Paula

by M. Ni Bhrolchain

Wed Feb 20, 2008 17:18

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.

Don't trust the media

by seedot

Wed Feb 20, 2008 22:02

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

whose media?

by pollytix

Thu Feb 21, 2008 02:06

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!

Big Screen reflections

Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:32

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.

If you want to communicate

by Pollytix

Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:56

You can also make a film!

Core problem, and core solution to problem?

by W. Finnerty.

Sun Feb 24, 2008 09:39

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/

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Battle in Seattle- Anti-Capititalism on the Big Screen

Comments (10 of 10)