While I was watching Battle in Seattle I had many mixed emotions and responses for the movie. I understand that the WTO might not be the friendliest to the environment or to our economy either but the movie reflected the WTO as a killing machine, there are some positives (promotes free-er trade, raises world out-put levels via specialisation, establishes a standard rule by law and terms of trade for greater efficiency, and updates all participating countries and banks to international standards and efficiency in terms of trade and commerce) , then again the movie’s producers were biased. I also feel like the movie showed people what they wanted to see rather than what happened.
This movie me curious to research what had happened in Seattle . On November 30, 1999 protesters lined up all over the main streets of Seattle to block the World Trade Organization from having a meeting at the Washington State Convention. They had planned a nonviolent protest against the WTO. They sought nonviolent training “which was a three hour course that combined the history and philosophy of non violence with real life practice through role plays in staying calm in tense situations, using nonviolent tactics, responding to brutality, and making decisions together” (How We Really Shut Down the WTO, Starhawk.). According to the article the police weren’t prepared for nonviolence. They were completely foreign to the thought of a nonviolent protest. I understand as to why they were not prepared for a nonviolent protest. There have been a lot of protests that have turned into riots or have turned violent. It is human nature to prepare and even expect the worst. It is natural to prepare for the unexpected in any big event, and I believe that is what the police were doing, however, by preparing so much for the worst they didn’t have an open mind to what was really happening. They were trained to see violence, and the bad, expecting it, and not embracing the fact that the protesters weren’t violent. The other problem I had with the movie involved how the activists were portrayed. It made it seem as if these people were essentially nomads who just traveled around the world fighting these corporations and doing nothing else. I am all for protesting and standing for what you support but Battle in Seattle portrayed the protesters as protesting just because everyone else is doing it and to pick a side. Django, one of the characters seemed more focused on the WTO’s ruling against endangered species while Jay, seemed more focused on the revenge on the WTO’s for his brother’s death. Overall although I didn’t quite agree with the way they portrayed the WTO I quite liked the movie (Channing Tatum and all) and I liked how through the movie the producers could make the people watching have such strong emotions towards the movie and the WTO.