Battle in Seattle

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Movie
German title Battle in Seattle
Original title Battle in Seattle
Country of production USA , Canada , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Stuart Townsend
script Stuart Townsend
production Mary L. Aloe ,
Maxime Rémillard ,
Kirk Shaw ,
Stuart Townsend
music Neil Davidge ,
Robert Del Naja
camera Barry Ackroyd
cut Fernando Villena
occupation

Battle in Seattle is a US-American - Canadian - German film drama from the year 2007 . Stuart Townsend directed and wrote the screenplay.

action

The film tells the events known as the Battle of Seattle that took place in December 1999. The World Trade Organization ( WTO) is organizing a meeting in Seattle , while critics of globalization organize peaceful demonstrations. The situation escalates and there are riots, so that the deliberations ultimately fail. The film takes sides for the concerns of the demonstrators and WTO opponents. The events of these five days are presented using the example of a few people and their relationships.

A group of WTO opponents around Django, Lou, Sam and Jay boarded a construction crane on November 29th to hang up a WTO-critical poster. For the next few days they plan to occupy the main intersections of downtown Seattle. The mayor worries about the image of his city; He assumes peaceful and passive actions by the demonstrators and therefore, together with his police chief, is relying on de-escalation .

The saleswoman Ella is five months pregnant. Her husband Dale works as a police officer during the demonstrations. When the blockade of the demonstrators on November 30th prevented many conference participants from reaching the conference building, Dale and his unit are supposed to evict the demonstrators without making arrests. But despite the peaceful protests, the Secret Service threatens the mayor with deploying the National Guard . When the blockers were able to persuade a union protest march to join them and some masked men began smashing shop windows, the situation escalated. The mayor feels so under political pressure that he calls the National Guard and imposes a curfew . In this situation, the journalist Jean senses a good story and hangs up with Jay's group instead of reporting on a press conference by the US President. In front of the camera, she is finally arrested herself. The doctor Dr. As a delegate of the organization " Doctors Without Borders " at the WTO conference, Maric is disappointed that the meetings at which he wanted to present his positions cannot take place because of the blockades.

Ella tries to leave her workplace, a downtown fashion boutique; but on the way home she gets caught between the fronts of protesters and the police and is injured by a police officer. Jean takes her to the hospital, but Ella loses her child. When Dale, still in battle uniform, visits her in the hospital, she rejects him and is later denied on the phone.

On December 1st, Dr. Maric finally held his lecture, but his plea against the TRIPS agreement of the WTO and for cheap drugs for the benefit of poor countries is rejected by a lobbyist of the pharmaceutical industry with reference to patent claims . The representatives of African countries are also affronted when the organizers of their meeting at the conference suddenly withdraw the interpreters. Police tactics change on the street; It is proceeded with great severity, wasteful use of tear gas and mass arrests. Django, Lou and Jean are also among those arrested. Dale takes out his grief and anger on the protester Jay when he beats him up before his arrest.

As there are further demonstrations for the release of the illegally detained and the conference draws to a close, the lawyer Sam succeeds in obtaining the unconditional release of the prisoners from the mayor. Dale apologizes to Jay and makes up with his wife, Ella. Finally, the representatives of the poor countries see in this conference, as in the previous ones, an exclusion of the Third World and a kind of colonialism . They take the courage of the demonstrators as an example and let the conference fail.

Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt wrote in The Hollywood Reporter on September 14, 2007 that the film was a rarity among American political films because it showed both sides of the conflict with a "sincere enthusiasm" . He used "smoothly" archive material and was "largely successful" .

The Movieset editorial team wrote that the film tells about one of the most shocking political riots in a generation's life and offers a “deep” insight. The events are told from different perspectives, from the point of view of the demonstrators as well as that of the security forces.

Noah Cowan praised on a website Toronto International Film Festival , the "wonderful" ensemble of actors, including the "heartbreaking" playing Charlize Theron and Rade Šerbedžija .

Awards

Stuart Townsend was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award in 2008 for his screenplay. The costumes, production design and producer Kirk Shaw were each nominated for a Leo Award in the same year .

backgrounds

Stuart Townsend made his debut as a director, screenwriter and producer with this film. The film was shot in November / December 2006 in Seattle and Vancouver . It had its world premiere on September 8, 2007 at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival . It was shown in French cinemas from May 7, 2008, and in selected US cinemas from September 19, 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Film review by Kirk Honeycutt, accessed November 28, 2007 ( Memento December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ battleinseattle.movieset.com ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b www.tiff07.ca, accessed on September 4, 2007 ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tiff07.ca
  4. ^ Filming locations for Battle in Seattle, accessed September 4, 2007
  5. ^ Box office / business for Battle in Seattle, accessed September 4, 2007
  6. ↑ Battle in Seattle premiere dates, accessed September 19, 2008