[A version of the following review was published on the Ain't It Cool News website in June of 2000.]

TRADE OFF
reviewed by Mattro

Trade Off, the debut documentary from Director Shaya Mercer (Produced by Thomas Lee Wright), is easily the best media project yet regarding the Seattle WTO demonstrations last November. The Seattle International Film Festival was the film's world premiere and the event was held at the Cinerama (Seattle's largest capacity single screen theatre). It was completely sold out. Dozens of people waited outside in hopes of claiming the seats of the no-shows. I have no idea how many people were turned away because, luckily, I made it in.

Trade Off uses original digital & camcorder video footage, images appropriated from the mainstream media and sounds from the radio call-in shows to give as complete an account as possible of what the WTO protests were about. The movie defines the event by utilizing, at length, the perspective of artists, protestors, politicians, the police, and even uninvolved, bewildered standersby. It starts a week or two before the WTO ministerial meetings and ends with the historic collapse of the talks (no trade agreements came out of the four day meeting nor was an agenda set for the next one).

As for Trade Off's overall tone... this is in no way the corporate media account of what happened during that week. Thank god. If I hear one more blow-dried reporter try to tell me that "30,000" young people converged on the city of Seattle that day for vague reasons or because they were bored... I'll scream. This film successfully puts that viewpoint to rest. Easily more than 60,000 Demonstrators (from all walks of life) were there that day to put a halt to the corporate feudalism that is spreading across the globe at the expense of the environment, fair labor, and human rights. The issue really is that simple, and the WTO is an excellent focal point for protesting this disturbing take over of our lives for a variety of reasons. Mercer lets the protestors and organizers do the talking. Everyday socially conscious folk, people you haven't heard of (but soon will) and people you have heard of all get to explain what specific event or issue motivated them to skip school, skip work, or travel across an ocean to protest.

Some of the best on screen moments involve some well-knowns: filmmaker Michael Moore, Spearhead band leader Michael Franti, former Dead Kennedy Jello Biafra, California legislator (and Chicago 7 member) Tom Hayden... and this film also heralds the major on screen debut of Public Citizen's Mike Dolan who offers his engaging and entertaining perspective throughout the film. Other excellent discussion/speeches come from Han Shan of the Ruckus Society, Seattle-area politician Brian Derdowski (who is gaining notoriety as a progressive Republican!) and outspoken activist leaders from India, South Africa, Asian nations and France.

Trade Off is right on the money. I was there in the streets the first day of the WTO meetings. I was (and am) concerned about governments allowing corporations to declare themselves the new Kings of the World by taking advantage of our present day economy worship. The wealthy have convinced us that a "rising tide lifts all boats" when what they really mean is "a rising tide lifts all of our expensive yachts even higher". The rest of us get to tread water.

What started as a very festive creative dissent, a "Mardi Gras with a message" if you will, got ugly only AFTER the cops decided dumping chemicals on peaceful protestors was a dandy way to clear them out of the intersections they were occupying. I cannot stress this enough: The cops got violent first. Period.

Why? Thousands of people had successfully prevented the opening WTO events from occurring, completely overwhelming the police who hadn't established a corridor for delegates to freely travel within. Sec. of State Madeleine Albright was trapped in her hotel. The President was on his way to town. Things were looking bad for the city because (god forbid!) the protestors were winning! Out came the teargas and rubber bullets. Then and only then, since tear-gassing anarchists generally is a bad idea, the storefront windows of big corporate chainstores were smashed in. Of course, the media love that shit and immediately dropped the pretense that they had the first clue what the protests were about opting instead to show us images of looting and dumpsters on fire.

Shaya Mercer 's Trade Off tells it like it was without the sensationalist junk we all saw on TV. Speaking as a person who was there and understood what was going on, she gets it right. If you are a history buff, believe me when I say something very big went down in Seattle last year: The start of a new movement in the United States. The "Left vs. the Right" has been redefined as the "Top vs. the Bottom."

As far as documentaries go, Trade Off is equally as big as the event it covers.. Charlotte Stobbs, who had the phenomenal task of editing this 90 minute film from 60 hours of usable raw footage, deserves praise for the films overall polish and flow.

I predict this film will win the Golden Space Needle (SIFF's highest honor) and that it will be nominated for an Oscar.

Update:

Trade Off won the Golden Space Needle for best documentary at the 2000 Seattle International Film Festival.