Townsend's Battle

I have a soft spot for Stuart Townsend. Mostly because I hate rejection and I can't imagine what it would be like to be fired from Lord of the Rings. Yes, he was the original Aragorn. Pre-Viggo's brilliance. That is your random trivia for the day.

Townsend was recently in Toronto, showing off his passion project, Battle in Seattle, a film he wrote and directed about the World Trade Organization protest in 1999. You know the one. If you had a TV (or access to a newspaper) that year, you heard all about it. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to Seattle streets, so it was pretty hard to ignore. But Townsend's approach isn't strictly a documentary on the five-day protest. He instead took the event and chose to tell stories. About individual protesters. The mayor. The cops and their families. And then added Charlize Theron, his pretty spectacular girlfriend, into the mix. He didn't bow to hobbits, but got a gorgeous Oscar winner to love him. So it all works out.

His fictional narrative combined with real footage from the protest tell a tale of ordinary folks driven by a desire to be heard. It's a political David-and-Goliath story, with Ray Liotta as mayor, Vancouver as Seattle and history as the backdrop. Sure, you could probably Google the ending in eight seconds. Or you could head to the movies and support Townsend's cinematic baby. Which is what I intend on doing.

The little guy wins in fiction. But when it comes to reality (and confronting the proverbial "man"), does he have a chance?

Finally, the fall movie season is picking up.