Friday, October 3, 2008

Movie review: Battle in Seattle

It's a battle for hearts and minds. (And you know how those things go.)

By John P. Meyer

Battle in Seattle marks the directing debut of actor Stuart Townsend (who lately appeared in Chaos Theory), and he also wrote the screenplay. So any credit and/or blame for the film lands pretty dang firmly on Mr. Townsend's doorstep.

Mostly, we give him credit. For a first effort, this complicated shoot, involving some big name actors (one of whom he's romantically involved with) and a good deal of action, was a pretty big chunk to bite off, and Townsend chews it pretty thoroughly.

Documenting several days of protest surrounding the World Trade Organization's 1999 conference in Seattle, Washington, the esoteric koom bai ya subject matter itself may put off some potential filmgoers; but the movie's high-profile presence at a number of film festivals (including SXSW and AFI Dallas) has given it much-needed exposure.

The film's agenda is telegraphed from the opening credits, which accompany an illustrated history lesson of the WTO from its beginnings (as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, aka GATT) to the time when the 1999 conference is getting set to kick off. The WTO is shown to be responsible for everything from bad air to bad food to the incipient extinction of sea turtles. "They're EVIL, I tell ya, EVIL," Townsend seems to be saying.

Jay and Lou are tangled up in WTO-induced blue

We are introduced to several of our story's principal players (including Martin Henderson as Jay and Michelle Rodriguez as Lou) while they dangle from the crossbeam of a massive construction crane, contriving to unravel a protest banner. Lou gets hung up and Jay has to adjust her rigging. (Leading, in a later scene, to Lou getting hung up on Jay and - ah - adjusting HIS rigging. Tit for tat, and all...)

Jay is the leader of this well-thought-out and heavy-on-tactics protest, and he's got a small army of supporters under his direction. With the help of able lieutenants such as the ever-upbeat Django (André Benjamin) and the dour but legally-accomplished Sam (the painfully skinny Jennifer Carpenter, taking a break from her duties as Dexter's adoptive sister), Jay will give these international delegates and their evil organization something to think about while they're stuck in (protester-created) traffic and stymied in their attempts to reach the convention center.

On the other side of things philosophical, Mayor Jim Tobin (Ray Liotta, who appears downright constipated at times due to his character's inability to punch somebody - anybody) coordinates with his police captains in an effort to outmaneuver the crafty protesters and get the show on the road.

Lurking on the sidelines are Seattle PD officer Dale (a testosterone-laden, bald-pated Woody Harrelson) and his lovely retail salesfloor-working wife Ella (Charlize Theron), who are expecting a baby and have recently viewed a sonogram of the wee womb-bound peanut.

Waiting patiently for an audience with the WTO are Docs Without Borders rep Maric (Rade Serbedzija) and a delegate from a third world country named Abassi (Isaach De Bankolé), who both expect to have an opportunity to air their grievances and enhance their causes during the conference. Both of them end up disappointed, thanks to the initial dramatic successes achieved by the protesters.

Reporting for local TV news is Jean (Connie Nielsen), who starts out as a skeptic in regard to protester causes but ends up a convert - and in the slammer, to boot.

Dale leads the robocop brigade into action. (Hey, guys, take it easy on pregnant women, O.K.?)

Director Townsend interweaves footage of the actual protests with footage of his actors, thereby saving himself zillions of dollars in production costs while lending events an air of verisimilitude.

The narrative tells an interesting story which ends up having more angles to it than we think it's going to - just as things undoubtedly turned more complicated for the real-life participants involved at the time. The consequences of the protesters' success are not all positive, as we come to discover. Adding commercial insult to injury, their street-closing actions play Hell with the Christmas retail season.

A poignant backstory centers around our pregnant retail associate, Ella, and the trouble she gets into by joining the ill-fated ranks of those hoary story standbys, the Innocent Bystanders. Adding irony is the fact that her troubles stem from the actions of her hubby's police pals.

No one can be too surprised that a protest which started out to be non-violent devolves into rampant thuggism. When committed people on two sides of an issue come to loggerheads, tensions build and something has to give. In this instance, it's the patience of the body-armored robocops and the pretty boy facial features of one of our protagonists.

People end up in jail; others end up guilt-ridden; the WTO pulls up stakes; but no one's going away happy. (Except for Django.) The protest continues (courtesy of this film) - as does the history lesson, over the end credits.

TREE-RING REASONING?: "How do you stop those who'll stop at nothing?" - Sam to Jay

"You don't stop." - Jay's reply

IS THIS A RHETORICAL QUESTION?: "Isn't it time that people mattered more than profit?" - Maric to WTO delegates, re. the high price of pharmaceuticals

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• Arts > Movies / Film > Independent Films