SIFF: Online scrum began after "Battle in Seattle" ended

"Battle in Seattle," Thursday's opening-night movie at Seattle International Film Festival, quickly turned into "Battle on the blog," as readers debated both the movie and the after-party on the Seattle Times' festival blog (www.seattletimes.com/festivalblog). Here are a few comments excerpted from that friendly argument.

"Battle" fatigue

I just got back from the 2008 SIFF Premiere showing of "Battle in Seattle" and I have never felt more like protesting. However, I'm not sure just what to protest — the 30-minute infomercial before the start of the movie or the movie itself or maybe the VIP tent that left this supporter out in the cold. ...

For this movie to be the opening-night gala for the 2008 SIFF is an embarrassment not only for Seattle but also for anyone truly passionate about the economic problems associated with the WTO.

This was a great cast of talented actors whose talent has never been more wasted on a lame, predictable screenplay.

Cash-bar blues

This is my second SIFF gala event. It will very likely be my last.

1. Fifty bucks for a ticket AND I have to buy my drinks?!?

2. The food, while good, was scarce, and there were only a few take-it-or-leave-it selections.

3. The movie was LAME and a trip down Revisionist Lane. What on earth is the point of making a movie based on true events and INVENTING characters such as the mayor? Why not call him "Paul Schell" and have an actor PORTRAY him? (I hear actors do this "portrayal" thing pretty well if you let them.)

Lastly, I concur about the whole VIP thing. Let's get a little less classist and a little more egalitarian on this. There's something fundamentally offensive about a segregated "party."

Whine not?

C'mon, the 50 bucks was not the price of admission to a movie, it was to support the event and SIFF and overwhelming demand justified the price. The whole ripping on the movie is humorous, too, but isn't SIFF all about us being critics anyway? It was a docudrama, you needed to let loose and get in the moment of it, that is what worked in the movie. Some of the dialogue was forced, but the editing and climactic elements to the riots and the panic of them was very well done.

The VIP tent option was great — again supply and demand, people! ... The money is there and the demand is there and I am more than willing to pay to avoid hanging at the DMV with the rest of the folks fighting for a crab cake. My wife and I have excellent drinks in our hand all the time, great sushi and other appetizers and a nice take-home bag. I consider that worth the money and so you didn't pay, why whine about it?

A lot to pay for a party

SIFF should have made it known beforehand that they'd be breaking from tradition and hosting a wildly overpriced party. What's the point of bringing out a sold-out crowd only to insult them with $5 Stella Artois and a nose-in-the-air VIP-only sushi "garden"? Milking the event for extra dough is no way to bring 3,000 film fans together in support of SIFF.

Inappropriate applause

I attended the event, and felt that the $50 was justified — it WAS sold out, after all, and how many times can I see Charlize [Theron] up close? However, my gripe is with the audience. I was rather mystified at all of the ovations during the movie whenever the "activists" were getting their way or saying something anti-establishment. The people who were clapping seemed to be in favor of a huge group that came to our town to cripple it. And then of course, these same "activists" — who were taking advantage of our initial genteel coddling — complained about their loss of constitutional liberties of free assembly and free speech. Ironic, since their goal was to deny this to others. The film seemed to try to present a balance, but ... not really. Those clapping at the movie were well-intentioned, I suppose, but seemed easily led by the movie's propaganda. Shame on them.