Review of Battle in Seattle

As someone who is someone who lived through this moment in Seattle's history, as well as someone who is a huge fan of Stuart Townsend, I felt this was something I had to see. I admit to being a bit worried at first, but Stuart not only manages to show all sides of this story, but does it well.

No one who lived through this Riot can say this was a stellar moment. No one won. And far too many people were hurt by the actions of people who went off-track for their own reasons, and by a mayor who failed to stand up for his city.

I am a bit disappointed that they had to fictionalize a few things--the name of the Mayor and Governor, for example--though I do wonder now if that was because they refused to sign releases.

Please watch this film. As someone who always believed that protest was a good thing, WTO shook my trust in that truism. This managed to restore it somewhat. Protest is good. It is one of the few viable options open in a Democratic society to say "this isn't the right way." What went wrong here was not protest. It was a few random people hurting the whole, and a government that couldn't keep things straight.