Review Dawn: Documentaire We Will Block You

DAWN review

Dawn newspaper

KARACHI, April 7: As such critical global issues as the financial crisis, climate change, the growing gap between the world’s haves and have-nots and other such grave matters spiral out of control, it has been noticed that the frequency and intensity of protests targeting multilateral talk-fests are growing. Perhaps the latest example of this was the violence that accompanied the recent G20 summit in London.

However, though the protesters are mostly portrayed as violent, clueless louts in the mass media, Dutch film-maker Suzanne Hogendoorn’s highly watchable documentary We Will Block You presents the other side of the picture. The nearly hour-long film – screened on Tuesday at the Goethe-Institute – portrays the anti-Capitalism/anti-globalisation demonstrators as largely committed, peaceful young activists often provoked by law-enforcement personnel into violence.

The setting of the film is 2007’s G8 summit, held in the German seaside resort of Heiligendamm, as well as the nearby town of Rostock. The director follows two groups of Dutch university stu dents who make the journey from the Netherlands to Germany in order to take part in the protests.

The young demonstrators first gather in Rostock, pitching tents and organising themselves, as they meet up with likeminded comrades from the rest of Europe, all aligned against the G8 and what it stands for. The first protest is a cacophonous gathering of the tribes, with socialists, anarchists, environmental activists and anti-war campaigners coming together to denounce what they consider to be an unjust world order.

There is music, dancing and much revelry, as the young marchers bang pots and pans, strum guitars and raise chants against Bush, Blair et al. However, things soon turn ugly as the cops seemingly provoke a few protestors. This leads to general bedlam, as rocks, tear gas canisters and other projectiles fly (a scene we in Pakistan, sadly, are all too familiar with). However, a little later and further away from the scene of the riot, the protesters are merrily swaying to pop tunes at a concert.

The confrontations with the cops continue off an on, but the mother of all pro tests is planned for the meeting of the G8 leaders at a swish seaside hotel in Heiligendamm. The demonstrators plan to block all the roads leading to the hotel – which is surrounded by forest – in order to paralyse the summit.

The ensuing operation is nothing short of marvellous, as the young protesters fan out to achieve their goal, working like a well-oiled machine, while the riot police are determined to block them.

We Will Block You – a crafty play on the title of British rock group Queen’s popular anthem We Will Rock You – is a very well-made film, with great pacing and a narrative that keeps the viewer involved from the beginning till the closing credits roll. The film-maker and her crew took great risks in filming incendiary situations, standing firm in the midst of flying rocks, the police’s clubs as well as the blinding mist of pepper spray.

Speaking at the viewing, Ms Hogendoorn said she made the film as an alternative to what was being shown in the mass media regarding antiCapitalism protesters. Answering questions, she said 16,000 cops had been deployed in and around the venues of the summit to keep the protesters at bay, the biggest deployment, she claimed, since the Second World War.

She said it was the G8’s “biggest mistake” to hold the 2007 summit in the middle of fields, as it made getting to the venue easier for the protesters. Ms Hogendoorn said making the film was a major challenge as there were no proper sanitation facilities, while the crew had to rough it out with the protesters in tents.

She added that during the final protest, they had to walk 12 miles through the fields, while watching many of her comrades get pummelled by the cops was very difficult, as she had to keep the cameras rolling and not get involved for the sake of the film.

She claimed that the police at times instigated the protesters so the violence would attract negative media coverage, taking away the focus from the demonstrators’ demands. She added that if 50,000 people were protesting, the possibility that there would be 1,000 troublemakers could not be ruled out.

This is the first time the film has been screened outside of Europe.—QAM