Review of Battle in Seattle (2007) by Paul W — 24 Feb 2010

Battle in Seattle (2008).

I live in the Northwest, so obviously, I was very aware of what was going on in Seattle in 1999. There were about 44,000 demonstrators, peacefully protesting the World Trade Organization's shady dealings. Naturally, they were completely ignored by the corporate-owned and commercial-backed news media. Nothing to see here folks, up until some protesters starting throwing rocks into windows and the turmoil couldn't be ignored. Now all of a sudden, despite the news media objecting to show us this, they had to, or the coverage would come from their competing news services.

Stuart Townsend did an excellent job of showing us the whole story of this and what the WTO is all about. They covered the event from all of the different angles, from the WTO representatives who were trying to make a difference, to the city officials who wanted the WTO to meet in their town, but also wanted Americans to have the freedom to voice their concerns, to the police who were trying to keep the peace, but weren't above kicking some tree-hugger butt, to the various protesters for what they stood for and what they were willing to have done to them to get their message out to the public.

I haven't even mentioned the great acting from many of the actors and actresses. Yes, the movie is a lot more left-leaning, but the more you investigate the WTO, the more you understand what this was all about. This was just a well done movie that I think that everyone should go see.