This Revolution

Infobox Film
name=This Revolution


director=Stephen Marshall
writer=Stephen Marshall
producer= Guerrilla News Network
starring= Rosario Dawson
Nathan Crooker
Amy Redford
Brett DelBuono
Brendan Sexton III
Immortal Technique
distributor=Universal Studios
released=2004
runtime=95 min.
language=English
imdb_id=0423370

"This Revolution" is a 2004 political film starring Rosario Dawson. Directed by filmmaker and activist Stephen Marshall, creator of the video news magazine "Channel Zero" and founder of Guerilla News Network, the docu-drama film blends fiction with reality, focusing on the effects of the media's bias in order to maximize profits. The film was also part of the 2004 Official Sundance Selection.

Plot

Jake Cassevetes (Nathan Crooker) is a world renowned cameraman who has just arrived back from being embedded during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Jake does not buy into the currently vogue conspiracy theory of a corporate-controlled press. Though, after having much of his best footage in Iraq censored by the network, Jake is growing disillusioned with his corporate masters. During this Jake befriends a young boy (Brett DelBuono), and in time meets his mother, Tina Santiago (Rosario Dawson), a pretty young widow whose husband died while serving in Iraq, who he comes to form a close bond. Jake then gets an assignment to shoot on the streets of the Republican National Convention protests, there he meets Seven, one of the young leaders of a masked anarchist Black Bloc. Jake quickly wins the trust of the group and is allowed to shadow them as they move through the demonstration. Later that night, after shooting Seven with her mask down describing the Bloc's militant objectives, the videotape is returned to the network with the rest of his footage by Jake's Girlfriend and co-worker Chloe (Amy Redford), without Jake's permission. When he goes to retrieve the tape, he is told the network made a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to review all footage to look for potential terror suspects. Which is in fact being used to compile a database of activists. Realizing the danger he has brought to Seven and the Black Bloc itself, Jake decides to use his skills and access at the network to jam the government controlled corporate media and broadcast the truth of the protests and the message of a new generation of activists.

Trivia

* During the filming of a protest scene, the cast was mistaken for an actual subversive group, leading to the arrest of several cast members, including Rosario Dawson. The entire third act of the film was rewritten on the fly to explain her absence. Footage of Dawson's actual arrest made the final cut of the film. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423370/trivia This Revolution Trivia] , IMDB.]
* The film was Inspired by Haskell Wexler's classic Medium Cool. [ [http://www.movieweb.com/dvd/release/20/111720/features.php This Revolution] , MovieWeb.com]

References