Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood

In the summer of 2001, the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy was winding down when 200,000 anti-globalization activists gathered to protest the new policies. This triggered fierce police retaliation which, based on subse- quent lawsuits and trials, inspired this fictional re-telling of the grim events that unfolded.

Our 2012 Seattle International Film Festival screening audience was mostly silent as we filed out of the theater; we were beaten into submission just by watching the police as they mercilessly beat, kicked, bludgeoned and raped the unresisting protesters with their nightsticks. It kept occurring to me that there must be another side to the story because every single protester was portrayed as intelligent, sensitive, dedicated and honest.

Even thought this was a scandal of world-wide proportions, a few weeks later, 9/11 in New York City captured the world's attention and thousands of demonstrators in Genoa were quickly forgotten despite one death and the brutal treatment of the protesters trapped in the Diaz-Pascoli School.

Remember our notorious 'Battle of Seattle' when we hosted the World Trade Organization in 1999? Everything was fine here until the anarchists arrived from Eugene, Oregon and all hell broke loose! From my Seattle perspective I noticed in the dialogue when they mention the arrival of anarchists in Genoa, so I wasn't surprised when the violence began.

In my opinion, this would have been more effective if the brutality had been toned down a bit. After so much cruelty, we finally became numb! Overkill can be overdone...