THE TAKE

Year: 2004
UK: ICA Projects
Cast: Bill Clinton, Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis, Juan Domingo Perón
Director: Avi Lewis
Country: Canada
Language: Spanish / English (English subtitles)
UK: 87 mins
UK Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 20 May 2005 (Limited Release - London, ICA)


Synopsis

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out their sleeping mats and refuse to leave.

One of Canada's most outspoken journalists Avi Lewis and author of the international best seller, No Logo Naomi Klein have created a stirring 'call to arms' documentary about the grassroots cooperative movement that has seen workers in Buenos Aires taking control of the factories that once employed them.

Following the devastation of Argentina's economy presided over by President Carlos Menem and the IMF, factories were shut down and unemployment was rife. In a dignified bid to win back their livelihoods, workers banded together to 'expropriate' their former workplaces, despite actions taken against them in court and in the streets.

The workers' struggle for justice and dignity is set against the dramatic backdrop of the crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins they'll take back the companies that the movement have worked so hard to revive.

Stridently partisan, Lewis and Klein tell this story from the workers' perspectives, giving their informative documentary the feel of a multi-character drama. This
is anti-globalisation agit-prop at its most skilful, thoughtful and impassioned.