“Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” – a must-see documentary, a powerful thought-provoking piece for each and every banana-consumer with a glimpse into the hidden reality of structures of society, we live in today.
“Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” is a film that has started being shot already ‘a-month-minus-2-days’ before the world premiere of “Bananas!*” was due to take place at the Los Angeles film festival.
The film “Bananas!*” is an emotional courtroom documentary about a lawsuit by Nicaraguan banana plantation workers, represented by the Cuban-American personal injury lawyer Juan Dominguez, against Dole Food Company, claiming compensation for being harmed (infertile) as a result of the exposure to a pesticide, namely the DBCP chemical -banned in the U.S. since the 1970s- showing a balanced amount of witness statements on both sides.
Mind the ‘a-month minus 2 days’ clue above: Just ‘2 days’ after the website and the trailer of “Bananas!*” went live and ‘a month’ before the film was due in California, Dole Food Company started its activities to prevent the documentary “Bananas!*” from being shown and reach a wider audience.
These attempts failed as the Swedish film director, Fredrik Gertten, bravely stood up not only for his film but the Nicaraguan workers and the documentary not only premiered (however with a disclaimer and out-of-competition!) at the LA Film Fest in 2009 but a new documentary project “Big Boys Gone Bananas!” was born.
Screening “Bananas!*” and, today, having it released in around 50 countries is a success story on its own; a documentary of that nature raises awareness and the audience is empowered with the possibility to take action each on an individual level, not lastly, it makes us feel against the powerful as “they are few, we are many”.
And on a banana scale, that involves us all. During a masterclass titled “The Dark Side of PR and Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” held at the Frontline Club in London Fredrik Gertten explained “bananas are the most sold product in every supermarket” making up “one per cent of the shop turnover” and “in that sense it is also a local story”.
“Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” exposes how far big corporations are ready to go in order to protect their brand image and profits; and here the film gives us an exclusive insight into the sad “money talks” reality of our society nowadays and the disappointing actuality of media control exercises; so, the real question becomes “what is the price for freedom of speech?”.
Dole does not only hire expensive lawyers to serve huge defamation claims on the filmmaker Fredrik Gertten, his producer Margarete Jangård and the Swedish production company WG Film but is neither deterred from paying a PR company that advertises itself with the slogan “it is easier to cope with a bad conscience than a bad reputation”. The film crew and their film find themselves subject to a twist-and-shout campaign with one clear motive: to discredit “Bananas!*”; which becomes as absurd as having “Bananas!*” compared with “The Eternal Jew”, a Hitler propaganda film justifying the massacre of Jews.
However, the film has moments of comedy and joy such as the moment when “the few” powerful are ironically challenged by one of “the many”, a free-speaking Swede who loves to update his blog with his personal daily adventures.
The involvement of the Swedish Parliament -creating a ‘par excellence’ example of a government’s intervention in protection of their citizen-, coupled with an anti-slapp motion –a US legislation especially designed for fighting back lawsuits made only to stop freedom of speech-, raise the stakes of justice in Dole’s power game.
And one thing is certain, one party will not have to cope with a bad reputation neither with a with a bad conscience…
You can watch either “Bananas!*” or “Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” first, I guarantee you, you will watch both!
“Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” is currently on screens across Spain, Chile and Argentina as part of the Documentary of the Month initiative.
You can also buy the DVD or download the film.
If you are based in the UK, the DVD is out with dogwoof.com and available on iTunes in the UK and Canada. As of next week, it will as well be available on iTunes in the U.S.
For more information click on “Bananas!*” or “Big Boys Gone Bananas!*”.
The Masterclass with Fredrik Gertten titled “The dark side of PR and Big Boys Gone Bananas!*” is on the youtube channel of the Frontline Club.
Written by: Ilona Kepic
