Sundance Review: Big Boys Gone Bananas*

After hearing a lot of great things from trusted film
friends about Big Boys Gone Bananas* I decided that I should wake up at 7:30am in the chilly air of Park City Utah and hustle to a faraway, remote, synagogue turned movie theater to see this social documentary unfold! And I am pretty glad I did! Filmmaker Fedrik Gertten (who is based in Malmo Sweden, a magical land that we brought our own to film to awhile back!) made a documentary about the use of pesticides by Dole Food Company and the pending lawsuit surrounding the devastation these pesticides caused to the workers in the banana plantations. Days before the films premier it became apparent Dole did not want this film to be seen. By anyone. Ever. This leads Gertten to create another film, Big Boys, a straight up documentary on his struggles as a filmmaker against a corporate giant. We watch Gertten and his colleagues crusade under the pressures of Dole, battle the lawsuits brought against them, thrive in the development of a Swedish community siding with the film's cause, and, most interestingly, witness the increasingly blurry vision of freedom of speech. Needless to say, this film is being screened and hopefully will continue to be screened bringing the issues of both corporate responsibility and the need to fight for documentarian human rights!



Big Boys Gone Bananas* is a case study in how standing up for justice, the freedom of speech and the triumph of truth are not to be taken for granted and should be strived for in whatever way one can, especially in a time when rights and responsibilities are slowly eroding away....also, Organic Fair Trade bananas all the way please! O, and also, the original documentary shunned by Dole can be rented or purchased in the embedded trailer link above, support this filmmaker and his important work!