Battle in Seattle (2007), Movie Review

In Stuart Townsend’s directorial debut docudrama, Battle in Seattle, activists fighting for different causes band together in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization’s U.S. conference in 1999. As police attempt to disperse the crowd, riots ensue and amidst the tension, the meetings begin to break down. Starring: Martin Henderson, Michelle Rodriguez, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Carpenter

Any country that deems itself to be free has been built with the sweat, bruises and blood of protesters. Battle in Seattle tracks the development of a plan that Jay (Martin Henderson) has hatched, which he hopes will break down the World Trade Organization’s meetings scheduled to be conducted in downtown Seattle. The mayor promises to stay his hand as long as the demonstrations remain peaceful, but when delegates are prevented from attending the meetings and violence breaks out in the streets, the mayor is forced to agree to the police’s tactics for dispersing the crowd. Mayhem and panic ensue, and uninvolved bystanders also become targets.

An inspiring film which presents the choices both sides of the demonstration line have to make as they take their stand for, or against, the WTO, Townsend’s method of merging actual film footage into the movie is also a reminder to viewers that although the characters in the film may be fictional, this was an actual event.

Most of us may think that being bruised, beaten and jailed for turtles, trees, sweatshop workers and people dying from curable diseases in a remote part of the world may appear to be a waste of energy, yet the barriers we have set up between us and them are all too fragile. Life moves in cycles, and the measure of mercy we show a stranger now will be the measure of mercy our children will receive one day. Most importantly, the Laws and Agreements we build today, will be the ones our children and grandchildren will have to live with. As Anatole France wrote, “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” (from The Red Lily, 1894)

In our world of extreme Capitalism, we are now made to listen to the same music, watch the same movies, eat the same kind of food and learn the same things in school. There is even a name for it – Globalization. This movie will not only make you wonder why a corporation would want to go through all that trouble, it will also put the responsibility to affect change back into your hands.