New Zealand-born actor Martin Henderson (Bride and Prejudice, Torque) plays one of the organizers of a protest against the World Trade Organization in Battle in Seattle written and directed by Stuart Townsend. The film examines the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle in which peaceful protests escalated into a full-on riots.
Martin Henderson on Stuart Townsend's Use of Four Cameras at Once:
"In terms of the shooting style, I think that aided the performance. I’ve just come from doing a couple months of theater, down in Australia, and I love doing that partly because there is no camera. You’re forced to relate to the actor. With traditional filmmaking sometimes you’re very aware of, 'Okay, this is the wide shot. Okay, this is the close-up,' and I think you become self-conscious in a way. The way we shot it, by having that docu-feel and having the cameras sometimes so far away, there were so many extras going between the camera and you that they weren’t even in your vicinity. That does allow you to forget the camera and really focus on what’s really going on in the moment, and I think it makes your performance a little more intimate and real. It helped."
On Figuring Out How to Play His Character:
"Stuart created the character, really, when he wrote it. I just interpret that and bring myself to it. It was a great character to play because not only is he motivated by the possibility of political change, and he has a certain cross to bear with that, but he has this emotional agenda as well, seeking vengeance for the death of someone he loved. So there was an intensity and a drive to him that is lovely to portray. And, there was a lot of anger. It was a wonderful part, and a real heroic part, really. He’s someone that’s willing to sacrifice his freedom - and, ultimately, almost completely does - in order to achieve what he thinks is better, not even for himself, but for the planet and for humanity."
"The characters that are out there, really fighting these fights, are the true heroes of this movement. It was an honor to portray someone of that character and try to bring that out of myself. In reality, in '99 part of the success of the protest was due to the fact that it was orchestrated and designed, based on the model of the Internet. It was completely decentralized. That was literally part of why it was such a tough fight for the police, and then the National Guard. At that time, it was an unconventional shape. There was no real leader. Ordinarily, they’d find the leader and chop his head off and it all crumbles. In this case, it wasn’t like that. So, there was a little bit of creative license with that. My character is actually an amalgamation of a few key leaders, even though he appears to be one of the key players. It was a lot more democratic than that."
On the Real Riots of 1999
"I was in America as a student at the time, but I’m from New Zealand, so I would go back and forth and see my family. What was curious to me was that I found more awareness of the event, and the issues that the event was about, in New Zealand, just having talks with friends and colleagues. And I found it very interesting that, when I was in America, there were less people that actually, ironically, knew about it, even though it happened here and it was a domestic issue. That was curious to me. At the time, I didn’t put the dots together that the way it was portrayed here was part of the reason why. The real issues were not really broadcast."
Getting to the Root of the Problem
"Just coincidentally, I’m curious about how the world’s run. You see things and you try to figure out the reasons for it. Usually, if you follow the money, you get the answers. And so I’m curious about what powers are at play that determine certain things around the world. I’ve read a couple of books on the subject of globalization. I read an essay from a Native Indian woman’s perspective on the effect of the IMF and the World Bank and trade rules that basically create a world where you have all these very poor, sometimes starving, people in a country like that, and yet there’s huge warehouses of wheat and different grains that are not allowed on the market. That just baffles me. When you’ve got starving people, how can trade determine things like that? That food could be eaten, but there’s no profit in it. So, personally, I’ve always had a curiosity in that aspect of our world. I knew a little bit about it, so when I read the script that Stuart had written, I was just amazed that someone had actually bothered to get their scalpel into this event and also the issues surrounding it."
On Why People Just Don't Protest as Much Anymore:
"I ask myself that question. I protested the war. I didn’t believe it was a just war, and it smelled fishy from the get-go. It seemed very convenient that certain things aligned and, all of a sudden, we were going into this country. So I protested when I could. Even in Australia, I went to anti-war marches and stuff. I really think the government here did a really clever job of making anybody that would protest feel like they were not American and they were unpatriotic. There was a real culture of fear that prevented people from voicing their right to say, 'I don’t think this is just.'"
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Battle in Seattle began its theatrical run on September 19, 2008.
