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Earthmatters (magazine of Friends of the Earth). Summer '98
Not long ago, I asked a fairly senior McDonald's executive for his assessment of the bruising "McLibel" trial. Had not Mr Justice Bell, after six months' deliberation of several years' high court evidence, ruled against the $30 billion-a-year burger giant on three fundamental points? Had not McDonald's been found to be cruel to some animals, manipulative of children via their ads and guilty of paying low wages to some of their workers? Corporate man to his flashy suit and sharp tie, he was honest enough: "No". But hadn't McDonald's promised an internal inquiry into the rulings? "Yes". Would they make this public? "No." Hadn't they found anything wanting in the organisation? "Pass". End of story? "Yes." Not quite. The legendary bunfight, the longest case in centuries of English civil law, lives on magnificently in Franny Armstrong's film, "McLibel: Two Worlds Collide". This amateur film-maker started recording the main players early in the trial. She got to know defendants Helen Steel and Dave Morris, and became something of a confidante. She persuaded Ken Loach to direct some recreations of the evidence. She learned to be a producer, editor, camerawoman and fundraiser. And she made a damn fine film that was legally watertight. But then, having produced an unique record of what leading legal commentators have called "the most important trial of the century" and "the most mismatched trial in history", she was ignored by the UK TV stations who all turned it down. Why? Take your pick: 1. Armstrong was a young woman and, worse, unknown. 2. She was seen as too close to the defendants. 3. No TV company wants a legal tussle with a US giant with a history of showering writs on anyone and everyone. Given this was a trial about freedom of sepeech, take a wild guess at the answer. Steel and Morris have their own anarchic politics, but drew on some of Britain and America's finest environmental and social commentators of the day in their defence (including FOE director Charles Secrett). Their testimoney alone is worth keeping. But so is the extraordinary sight of senior McDonald's executives, mostly on the defnesive, all with a world view from one of the outer planets, taking on two people with no resources whatbver except the goodwill of people who shared their concerns. For that, this cracker of a film deserves the widest exposure.
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