Battle in Seattle

The film is based on the 1999 WTO Conference in Seattle and how the protests surrounding it got out of hand.

It does not glorify the civil disobedience but rather strives for a balance for both sides. The protests and traffic disturbances caused humanitarian causes to take the biggest hits. Resources were shifted to the main part of the conference, cutting off speaking time from causes like Doctors Without Borders that would usually happen alongside, while all relevant people are gathered in the same locale.

But much more than paint a big picture, it focuses on the human stories, which takes away some of the force somehow. Peppered in are TV clips from Seattle used to cover that part of the story.

It does sport quite the impressive cast and is thoroughly watchable although it is never quite clear where it stands or if, indeed, it takes sides at all.

6/10

Gone

Two years ago, Jill was kidnapped from her home and dumped into a hole in the middle of a huge forest near Portland, OR. Law enforcement tried for all of two weeks to find said hole where, according to Jill, several skeletons are buried. They start suspecting that the girl made it all up and have her institutionalized.

Jill now lives with her sister Molly, the only family she has anymore. When she comes home one morning after a night shift at the restaurant she works in Molly is gone and Jill becomes immediately convinced that her kidnapper has come back to finish her off.

When she goes to the police to alert them, the do not believe her yet again and don't move a finger to find Molly, who is a recovering alcoholic and they are convinced she will turn up on her own account. Jill sets out to find her and their kidnapper by herself.

At the same time, she is being hunted because she carries a gun, and having been a mental patient she lost the right to do so (even in gun crazy Merica), and has threatened someone with it to gather information. So the film is the police hunting Jill hunting the kidnapper and recovering her sister.

Actually quite entertaining.

6/10