Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein’s documentary The Take is the next step in their evolving criticism of the contemporary global socio-political system. The film documents the struggles of Argentine workers that took to occupying their factories after the country declared bankruptcy. Here, the predominantly well-educated middle class population begins to enact direct action on their world by creating a new economic model based on equality and fairness.
The results are nothing short of astounding, as the small triumphs of one factory spread to another, until a network is gradually established. The success of the film is rooted in the fact that it dwells on the personal realities of the actual workers and stays with the arc of their story for the duration on the film.
The film is also an excellent document not only of the problems facing nations who subscribe to the cookie-cutter policies of the IMF and the movement of capital in and out of these countries. The film begins with footage of the beautiful city of Buenos Aires from above, then to the street level where everyday people pelt banks with rocks and bricks because they can’t access their own accounts. By placing the action in the reality of their lives and the subsequent way they enact revolutionary policies in order to survive, the effect is inspirational, and effectively diffuses the criticism often leveled at the writer (Klein) and activist journalist (Lewis).
The film offers both hope in the form of the direct action of the workers, but also a dire warning to those nations who willfully subscribe to the current economic policies-not just in the so-called Third World, but also in North America, where the outsourcing of jobs in the U.S. and Canada point towards the same gradual effects in the distant, or not-so distant future. As a result, The Take is both a breathtaking example of direct democracy in action, but also a frightening harbinger of the same road that we now travel.
