Trailer for Battle in Seattle, a movie “about” the 1999 WTO riots. I was there, and I’m pretty sure they are just using these riots as a canvass to paint their own picture - the situation was not that life-changing for the city. My strongest memory is of legions of kids who were there just because there was a riot, with no idea what exactly the WTO was about or why they were protesting. I remember one story of a kid kicking over the sign on a Nike store while wearing Nike shoes. In the trailer, the conflicts between protestors over non-violent versus violent demonstration does ring quite true, and I’m glad they’re including that.
I think if you see the movie, you should also watch this 7 minute video with actual people from the riots, which should give you a sense of what it was really like.
I’m pretty blown away by the cast on this - an A-list ensemble that’s disporportionate to the topic, IMHO:
- Woody Harrelson
- Charlize Theron
- Andre Benjamin
- Ray Liotta
- Michelle Rodriguez
- Channing Tatum
among others.
