[TCDPCO] 'Battle in Seattle' The Movie

[Pickett]

If you participated in the 1999 WTO protests like I did, you might find this
interesting, or perhaps disturbining.

Here is the link to the movie site:
http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/index.html

This line from the website looks bad. "A peaceful demonstration to stop the
WTO talks quickly escalates into a full-scale riot.". Historic revisionism?

On the other hand there's this: "TELL YOUR STORY Were you there? Upload your
own video, photos or writing about your experience at the protests. We want
to hear what you've got to say!" Perhaps if participants get the truth onto
this site it might do some good.

Then there was the following article in the P-I.  They don't ask an
environmentalist or union activist whether the movie is accurate. Also they
say "Seattle's downtown streets erupted in chaos". Historic revisionism
again? The protest seemed pretty well organized to me, other than a few
anarchist throwing stones and some opportunistic looting.

If you hear anything more about organized response to this movie from
participants, please share it.

 Paul

-----

Police captain says 'Battle in Seattle' captures cops' struggle during WTO
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER

When Seattle's downtown streets erupted in chaos on Nov. 30, 1999, Jim Pugel
was the police captain overseeing frontline cops standing to protect World
Trade Organization delegates and the city.

Now an assistant chief and one of the highest-ranking Seattle police
officers to have experienced WTO, Pugel attended Thursday's red-carpet
premier of "Battle in Seattle" at the Seattle International Film Festival.

He didn't feel that far removed from the melee nine years ago, given he's
had to relive it countless times in lawsuits against the city and in the
analysis and controversy that followed.









     Woody Harrelson, center, is one of the stars of "Battle in Seattle."

But Pugel wanted to see director Stuart Townsend's film, anticipating
questions about how it depicted the police department in a historic event
still defined by images of body armor, tear gas, rioters and smashed
storefronts.

Interviewed right after the film, here were his thoughts.

Overall, what were your impressions?

"Just being there and having been so involved in the seven weeks before and
the seven years after in lawsuits and claims in court, it's very challenging
for any director to try to capture what happened... and try to portray it. I
think the movie did portray what a tough crossfire those men and women of
the Seattle Police Department were in during that time. We had specific
directions as to which way the city wanted to go and the men and women of
the Police Department did everything they were asked to."

Was there one part in the movie that stood out to you; one scene that you
thought was wildly inaccurate or overly-dramatized?

"Well, certainly the issue where the police officer's (pregnant) wife is hit
and loses her child. That just never happened. I think the farther that
historians get from Nov. 30, 1999 in Seattle, the more they come back to it
an say, 'Wow, it's amazing that there were so few injuries and no one got
seriously hurt.'

"The one thing that really jumped out was the use of the batons as portrayed
in the movie. You'll never see a Seattle police officer raise a baton above
their head in any real footage. It was very strict training and the courts
affirmed that. Again, I'm not taking from the movie. You have to grab the
attention of the audience, I think, to focus overall on the issues of the
WTO."

What was it like to see some of that footage unfolding on the big screen?

"I've seen it a lot. Me, and several of the other commanders, have had to
relive it in court. I think he -- the director -- did a really good job of
splicing that into what his actual creation was."

What were your expectations going into it?

"I really didn't know. There have been some other artistic attempts at
trying to capture it and it's incredibly difficult to capture. It was
harbinger event that really changed the way, for one, that protests are done
throughout the nation and throughout the world. It also changed the way that
police and government responded to them."

What were the lasting impacts on the police department?

"We got the best police chief in the nation as the result of that event.
Chief (Gil) Kerlikowske came in and made numerous reforms. We now send
police commanders around the nation and throughout the world to learn best
practices. And much larger agencies since then, even at the various national
conventions... whenever there is big event now, honestly, they come to see
how so few people, and I mean that, so very few people had any
injuries...and the injuries they had were minor."

Do you think it's a rental or a see-on-opening-night film?

I think everyone should take a look at it. I'll let them be the judge.

P-I reporter Scott Gutierrez can be reached at 206-903-5396 or
scottgutierrez at seattlepi.com.



Paul J. Pickett

WA Dept. of Ecology

P.O. Box 47710

Olympia, WA 98504-7710

(360) 407-6882




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