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'Seattle' Loses Battle To Be Convincing

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By KENNETH TURAN

Los Angeles Times

Published: November 13, 2008

They call it "Battle in Seattle," but it's safe to say that the mayhem that took place in that city's streets over five days in 1999 does not have the name recognition for most Americans of Gettysburg, Iwo Jima or even Bunker Hill. Stuart Townsend's new film attempts to change all that, with mixed results.

Previously an actor, Townsend was determined to make his writing and directing debut with a film that combined entertainment with social relevance. The 1999 Seattle event, when about 40,000 protesters caused the cancellation of the first high-level World Trade Organization conference to be held in the United States, seemed a good bet to do both.

Townsend's admiration for the idealism of the people behind the anti-WTO protests is never in doubt, but combining drama with historical re-creation is frankly a challenge his filmmaking skills are not up to.

The first problem is that outside of those who are in it and those who protest against it, few people know exactly what the World Trade Organization is, what it does or how it operates. Townsend attempts to remedy this with a brief introduction, but the reality is that when unidentified talking heads say the WTO stands for "money values ruling over human values," we simply have to take that on faith.

A larger concern is that whereas Townsend has said repeatedly that he wants his film to succeed as dramatic entertainment, this is considerably simpler said than done. Perhaps not surprisingly, it has proved more doable to re-create the on-the-ground feeling of the event than to people it with convincing characters.

Two protagonists meet the day before the protests begin; both part of a team hanging an anti-WTO banner on one of the city's construction cranes. He's Jay (Martin Henderson), one of the leaders of the protest, and she's Lou (Michelle Rodriguez), a woman with anarchy in her past.

Gradually we meet the rest of Jay's leadership team, including the free-spirited Django (Andre Benjamin of the music group OutKast) and conflicted lawyer Sam (Jennifer Carpenter). They're determined to stop the conference nonviolently.

On the other side of the issues is the city's mayor, played by Ray Liotta. A former anti-Vietnam protester, the mayor seems OK with the prospect of dissent but only because he thinks it won't succeed.

Also fated to become involved in the protests is a carefully selected group of individuals, including a TV news reporter who thinks she cares only about getting a story (Connie Nielsen), a sensitive Seattle cop (Woody Harrelson) and his pregnant wife (Charlize Theron).

"Battle in Seattle" claims to be an uplifting film detailing how the power of the people brought the oligarchy down, but it plays more like an epic of futility and cross-purposes. When one of the protagonists says that what most Americans will take away from the protests is the notion that "I don't know what the WTO is, but I know it's bad," he is summing up the film's effect as well.

MOVIE REVIEW

Battle in Seattle

MOVIE BOARD RATING: R; profanity and some violence

STARS: Ray Liotta, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron

DIRECTOR: Stuart Townsend

LOCATION: See Movie Times, Page 8, for local showtimes.

PLOT SUMMARY: A drama based on the protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle

RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes

ON THE WEB: www.battlein

seattlemovie.com

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