Battle in Seattle

• Charlize Theron: Ella
• Woody Harrelson: Dale
• Ray Liotta: Mayor Jim Tobin
• Martin Henderson: Jay
• Ivana Milicevic: Carla
• Michelle Rodriguez: Lou
• Rade Šerbedžija: Dr. Maric
• Isaac de Bankole: Abasi
• André Benjamin: Django
• Joshua Jackson: Randall
• Connie Nielsen: Jean
• Channing Tatum: Johnson
• Barbara Tyson: Anna
• Tobias Mehler: Jonathan
• Jennifer Carpenter: Sam

Battle in Seattle is an American- Canadian- German drama film from the year 2007. Directed by Stuart Townsend, who also wrote the screenplay.

Action

The film tells about the events as the Battle of Seattle known, within five days held in December 1999. The World Trade Organization in Seattle organized a meeting to take place while peaceful demonstrations of globalization critics. The situation escalates and leads to excesses that bring the discussions to failure. The film takes the side of the concerns of the protesters and WTO opponents. With reference to several people and their relationships, the events of these five days are shown.

A group of WTO opponents around Django, Lou, Sam and Jay board on November 29, a construction crane to hang a poster WTO critical mind. Your future strategy for the next days is the occupation of the main intersections in downtown Seattle. The mayor is concerned about the image of its city and goes from peaceful and passive actions of the protesters, and therefore uses along with his police chief to de-escalation.

The seller Elle is five months pregnant. Her husband Dale is a cop in use during the demonstrations. Once the blockade by the demonstrators on 30 November are a great success and the conference building many participants in the conference can not reach Dale will only drive them away with his unit the protesters without making arrests. Although the protests are peaceful, threatens the Secret Service to the mayor with the use of the National Guard. After the blocker could persuade a Gewerkschaftsprotestzug, to join them and begin some masked people to embark on slices of shops, the situation escalated after all. The mayor gets so under political pressure that he calls the National Guard and a curfew imposed. In this situation, the journalist Jean smells a good story and attaches itself to the group around Jay, instead of a press conference by the U.S. President to report. Front of the camera she is eventually arrested himself. The doctor, Dr. Maric, delegate of the organization " Doctors Without Borders" at the WTO conference, on the other hand disappointed that the scheduled meetings at which he is to present his positions, because of the blockades can not take place.

Elle tries their jobs to leave a fashion boutique in downtown, but on the way home, she is caught between the fronts of the demonstrators and policemen and wounded by a police officer. Jean brings them to the hospital, but Elle loses her child. As Dale, still fighting suit, she visited the hospital, she rejects him and can also deny later on the phone.

On December 1, Dr. Maric can give his talk still, but his plea against the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO and for cheap medicines that benefit poor countries is rejected with regard to claims of a lobbyist of the pharmaceutical industry. The representatives of African countries experiencing an affront by the organizers of the event of their meeting at the conference suddenly withdraw the interpreter. On the road, the police tactics change; it is acted with great severity, the lavish use of tear gas and mass arrests. Also Django, Lou and Jean are among those arrested. Dale takes out his grief and anger at the protesters Jay and still beat him before his arrest.

Since there are more demonstrations for the release of illegally detained and the conference coming to an end, it is possible the lawyer Sam to obtain the unconditional liberation of the prisoners with the mayor. Dale apologizes to Jay and reconciles with his wife Elle. The representatives of the poor countries also recognize this conference, like the previous ones, as the " exclusion" of the Third World and " colonialism ". Take the courage of the protesters as a model and let the conference fail.

Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt wrote in the magazine The Hollywood Reporter September 14, 2007, the film was a rarity among American political films, because he both sides of the conflict see the "sincere enthusiasm ." He used " smoothly " archival footage and was " largely succeeded ".

The editors of MovieSet wrote that the film will tell you about one of the most shocking political violence within the lives of a generation and offer a " profound " insight. The events are told from different perspectives, just from the point of view of the protesters as well as from that of the forces of order.

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

Awards

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

Background

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