"Battle In Seattle" is a film (*based on a true series of events) that showcases the culmination of an international movement to protest the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s 1999 meeting in Seattle -- and why people came from all over the world to shut the meetings down. Without being overly didactic, the film details the protesters' argument against "free trade" (and argument for "fair trade") with no protections for the sovereignty of less-powerful nations for their goods and products. Rather than just focusing on the motivations of U.S. and Western-based activists, the film also gives the perspectives of doctors and African trade ministers as to why the WTO policies and negotiations did not work for them. Overall, the film shows the spirit and dedication that these thousands of people brought to the streets of Seattle, and how they put their lives on the line for what they believed in. But director Stuart Townsend also shows the other side as well: the conflicts that police and government experienced when weighing what action to take against the protesters, as well as the inner conflicts an individual policeman (Woody Harrelson) experienced when his own wife got injured in the protests.