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Home | Friday 19th September 2008 | Issue 647

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BATTLE WEARY

Today (19th), the docu-drama feature film Battle Of Seattle opens in cinemas across the US, produced independently by Hollywood actor, Stuart Townshend. There was some imput from those involved in the actual WTO protests in November 1999, but no doubt for many the gap between the 90 minute dramatisation and the real thing will be too Grand Canyon-esque - even if it is largely sympathetic to them.

The film is being criticised for overly relying on several players - including a group of anarchists, but also a low-ranking riot cop with a young family to support (who one reviewer claims is the most three-dimensional character in the film), the mayor, chief of police, plus a European NGO delegate and an African trade minister. The opening screenings will be leafleted by groups hoping to re-ignite debate about what really happened - see www.realbattleinseattle.org

* To read SchNEWS' first hand accounts of Seattle see SchNEWS 239, 240


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