Film: We Are Many

Ah, finally I got to see We Are Many! Seriously, it's been the top-rated film on my list for ages, and I was to see it last week, but then an ex-colleague swung by and I ended up going for drinks instead. But last night, I took myself along to the Odeon Panton Street to see it.

There was a slight delay on the District Line (when is there not?), but I wasn't worried, as this was a regular cinema showing and there'd be trailers beforehand. When I exited at Piccadilly Circus, it was to the strains of a bagpiper at the side, with a sign in front of him that said he was saving for an engagement ring! Aww.. and as I made my way down Haymarket, before he faded out of earshot, his repertoire ran through the Star Wars theme, Happy Birthday, and Thunderstruck (AC/DC). Nothing if not versatile.

This cinema is definitely one of the cheapest in London - tickets for all shows now only £6 Mon - Thu. I seemed to be just in time for the trailers, which is fine. Took a seat at the side - the cinema was mostly empty, this has been out for a while - and waited for it to begin.

Well, We Are Many deserves its high rating. It's a fabulous film - from the very start, the score and the camerawork let you know you're in for a treat. Some films just are good. This is a documentary about the Stop the War coalition's worldwide campaign against the Iraq war in 2003. But no staid presentation of facts, this - no, it's really moving, packed with interviews with organisers, protesters, demonstrators, politicians.

Many interesting points raised, of course. The first thing that really struck me was an Evening Standard headline from the time, trumpeting that Iraqi missiles were "45 minutes" from the UK. Then, of course, you had a plethora of experts interviewed, saying that was nonsense. Worth remembering that there are sections of the British media you just can't trust - of course, they're not alone in that. Of course, these were the WMDs that didn't even exist! There was an extensive interview with one of the weapons inspectors, who describes sitting opposite Colin Powell, incredulously listening to him describe how intelligence predicted that there were weapons. "Seriously?" he was thinking to himself - because they hadn't been able to find any. Consensus was that Powell really believed this, and was fed misinformation by those pushing for war.

Watching these fervent campaigners enthuse about the excitement of mobilising a campaign against the war brought a tear or several to my eye. I wasn't alone - they were crying on screen as well, as they described how the protests spread to every continent on Earth - even Antarctica! Yep, they had a protest down there, if you recall. They interviewed a couple of the people who took part - one of whom remarked that he hadn't known you could lose your job for that. Which he did. But if he had known, he'd have done it anyway.

They were overwhelmed by the support they received. They set out to raise £4000 for an advertising campaign - they raised £40,000. A stunning sequence in the film shows the spread of the marches as they moved with the sun - New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America. There's a funny piece about the guys who painted "No War" on the roof of the Sydney Opera House! Also a funny interview with an Egyptian who, with his countrymen, was very mad that they could protest in the rest of the world but not there - as he puts it, the attitude was "these white, whiskey-drinking infidels are campaigning on our behalf and we can't!"

Rome - they were in a huge group, met another huge group at a junction and wondered who they were, and realised they were there for the same thing! Madrid - as she said, you could call it a march, but you couldn't march! There were too many people, you couldn't move. London - 1.5 million people marched, and as they described it, there rose the sound of a feral howl. In New York, they described how they just couldn't wait for it to be their turn!

And all the while, they were all thinking - surely, with all this support, the politicians would have to listen. Surely, democracy would count for something. And, as we know, that's not what happened - cue footage of Blair ignoring all protests as he sticks to his guns, and Bush joking about the missing WMDs. And so the war started.. and there are films of bombings, and protesters looking sad. And plenty of stuff about how it was not sanctioned by the UN - even footage of Kofi Annan, interviewed saying that it was a war crime. Despite what the British government has to say.

Now, of course, the war inspires disgust. There's a statistic that the residual radiation in Fallujah is more than was in Hiroshima. One anti-war campaigner describes how people tell her, oh, we didn't know! Had we known what the truth was, we wouldn't have supported the war. She calls them liars. Everyone knew the truth, everyone knew that the war was started on a lie. And yet, there's no Nuremberg trial.. no accountability, no justice. Mind you, there is a really interesting woman, interviewed at points throughout the film, who is also shown at a couple of functions. See, what she does is to follow people like Donald Rumsfeld around and shout to all and sundry that here is a war criminal! Unpunished! and give a list of his crimes. She keeps getting dragged out of places, shouting all the while..

But you know, they may not have stopped the war, but that doesn't mean they didn't achieve anything. One of the protesters, interviewed, explains how he was moved to found 38 Degrees. They point out how, 10 years on, the House of Commons voted against war with Syria - the first time they'd voted against war in 231 years. They put that down to the vehement opposition to war with Iraq. There's footage of American veterans of the War on Terror, throwing away their service medals at a public rally. Then there's a big piece about how the years after 2003 led to a groundswell of public discontent in Egypt, that ultimately led to the revolution there. Mind you, I guess the film was made before that started to turn sour..

Fabulous film, go see. Of course, it was too late to blog last night - late showing of the film - so here we are.

Well, that London for Less Meetup group seems to have the same eclectic taste that I do! Tonight, they're headed to King John at the Globe, and tomorrow night to see the Circus Geeks show, Beta Testing, at the Udderbelly festival. Both - as with many London for Less events - are sold out: but that needn't stop me! Although tickets are cheaper with the group - as the name implies - I can of course buy my own. Having said that, tonight's was also sold out on the official website - but I nabbed a ticket on LoveTheatre: and my experience of them is that they provide excellent seats! They have a sale running on this show till Sunday. I've also got the organiser to tell me where they're meeting afterwards, so I can maybe join them for a drink. Tomorrow night's doesn't seem to be selling out, so although the intention is to get a ticket from the official vendor, I haven't committed myself yet.