McLibel tells the true story of the postman and the gardener who
humiliated McDonald's in "the biggest corporate disaster in history".
Penniless campaigners Helen Steel and Dave Morris received a libel writ from
McDonald's back in 1990 over a leaflet they were handing out in the street.
McDonald's expected them to quickly apologise in court - as the BBC, Sunday
Times and many others had done before. Big Mac could never have guessed at the
determination, tenacity and pure stubborness that would drive Helen and Dave
through the battle which raged for the next 15 years. A battle which ended in
victory in February 2005 at the European Court of Human Rights.
Filmed over 10 years by independent filmmaker Franny Armstrong (Drowned Out),
with courtroom reconstructions by Ken Loach, this brand new feature version of
McLibel follows Helen and Dave every step of the way from anonymous campaigners
to global heroes.
Struggling to defend themselves in the longest trial in English history, the
'McLibel 2' face infiltration by spies, secret meetings with corporate
executives, 40,000 pages of background reading and a visit from Ronald McDonald.
They also try desperately to keep their lives going - Helen working nights in a
bar and Dave as a single father bringing up his young son.
McLibel is a feel good tale of two ordinary people who changed the world.
Did McDonald's sue?
Of course they didn't. Once Helen and Dave had stood up to them - unlike the
BBC, Channel 4, The Sun and many, many others - their tactic of suing everyone
who criticises them was over. Because it was never about going to trial to prove
that they are a great company. It's about intimidating people into silence.
The McLibel Trial was the worst thing that ever happened to McDonald's,
publicity wise. They were hardly going to go all through that again with a film
about the trial.
The Observer, 19.2.06
Philip French
..... A rather healthier approach to a related subject is to be found in
McLibel, which is getting a few weeks in cinemas between its successful
screening on TV last year and its appearance on a two-disc video on the
Revelation label. Franny Armstrong's first-rate documentary (with dramatisations
of the marathon High Court trial directed by Ken Loach) concerns the libel
action brought against Helen Steel and David Morris for distributing 'What's
Wrong With McDonald's?' leaflets outside its fast-food joints. This David and
Goliath story of the globalisation era is instructive, exciting and often
hilarious. McDonald's executives look like shady heavies from central casting
and their use of private detectives to infiltrate the protest group brings to
mind The Man Who Was Thursday, GK Chesterton's story about an anarchist cell in
which secret policemen far outnumbered subversives. As someone says, this was
the worst corporate PR disaster in history.
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Mail on Sunday. 19.2.06
By Jason Solomons
"Beating their arch enemy."
Two old-fashioned socialists took on McDonald's and won. Former postman David
Morris and gardener Helen Steel endured the longest trial in English legal
history, representing themselves for most of the 314 days against serried ranks
of corporate lawyers.
But they eventually triumphed against the way the golden-arched giant marketed
itself to children, the nutritional benefit of its food and the way it treated
its workers.
Young director Franny Armstrong might justly claim McLibel to be the longest
shoot in British film history, being a passionate and entertaining documentary
sculpted from years spent following the duo on their crusade. "They're heroes of
our time", says one witness of David and Helen, but Armstrong's film never
builds them as such, admirably letting us decide.
McDonald's is cast as the monster here, gobbling up trees, property, animals,
people and the law but the film duly gives the corporation room to defend
itself, although, as time goes on, that could read 'rope to hang itself'.
McLibel nicely balances the emotions of anti-corporate rhetoric with the
individual human strength and determination of David and Helen.
(Four stars out of five)
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Daily Express 17.2.06
Freedom of speech is central to this fascinating documentary on the titanic
battle between environmentalists Helen Steel and Dave Morris and McDonald's.
When the duo distributed leaflets alleging that McDonald's meals were unhealthy
and their business practices were unethical, the company sued them for libel.
McDonald's spent 10 million pounds on the case. Gardener Helen and postman Dave
were not even allowed legal aid. Their refusal to bow down eventually resulted
in a landmark ruling from the European Court of Human rights.
Using their own record of events and dramatised reconstructions of the trial,
McLibel is a heartening illustration that determined individuals can topple
giants and change the world.
(Four stars)
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Independent on Sunday
Stirring documentary about the UK campaigners who triumphed in the courts after
refusing to apologise to the mighty McDonald's.
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Sunday Telegraph 19.2.06
Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me (2004) had the surprising impact of making me
want to find the nearest Big Mac - they looked rather good on screen. McLibel
luckily had no such effect. This documentary follows two British campaigners who
represented themselves in court against McDonald's after being libelled for
highlighting the comapny's unethical politices. Some ugly truths are exposed.
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BBC
Reviewed by Matthew Leyland
Updated 12 February 2006
A true underdog story, McLibel succinctly documents the tale of David Morris and
Helen Steel, two activist friends sued by McDonald's over a pamphlet that put
fast food in the firing line. The resulting trial ending up becoming the longest
in UK legal history, costing the Big Mac-makers around £10 million. From obesity
and animal cruelty to the exploitation of pester power, the issues are dissected
in a digestible, no-extra-relish format. Conversely, a lack of cinematic pizzazz
means it'll play better on the box. But this is still a tasty companion piece to
Super Size Me.
Like Morgan Spurlock, the defendant duo's beef isn't so much with McDonald's per
se. As former postman David puts it, "This is about the public's right to know
what the most powerful organisations in the world, multi-national corporations,
are really doing." While neither he nor his pal share Spurlock's natural
charisma (Helen admits she's camera-shy), the very fact of their unassuming
ordinariness inspires all the more.
Stretching back to 1986 (when the Everything They Don't Want You To Know
pamphlet was first produced), events are functionally re-told via interviews,
diary entries and courtroom reconstructions. While this David and Goliath story
has a happy ending, it's also honest enough to count the personal costs that
taking a stand can incur. Further flavour's added to the menu by Fast Food
Nation author Eric Schlosser and by ex-Ronald McDonald actor Geoffrey Giuliano,
who says he felt like "the man in the Third Reich who was propaganda minister".
Lovin' it...
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William Skidelsky applauds a protest
Monday 20th February 2006
The mind may forget nauseous trauma, but the body never does, writes William
Skidelsky
The last time I ate a McDonald's hamburger, I was violently sick later that same
night. That was when I was eight years old. Since then, avoiding McDonald's has
been not so much a conscious decision as a self-preservative instinct. The mind
may forget nauseous trauma, but the body never does. When, aged 18, I drove
around America with a friend, steering clear of McDonald's wasn't always easy.
After a day on the road the prospect of instant sustenance, for not much money,
seemed appealing. This being America, however, alternatives invariably lay close
at hand, and I ate more Burger King Whoppers on that trip than I care to
remember.
By and large I have come to regard my exclusion from the Republic of the Golden
Arches as a blessing. Ronald McDonald, the company's sinister clown mascot, has
never had any hold over me. I was freshly reminded of my good fortune the other
day when I watched the anti-McDonald's documentary McLibel, which has just been
released as a full-length feature, a shorter version having been shown on TV
last year. One of the film's most powerful scenes is a covert video recording of
an appearance by Ronald McDonald at a children's fun day. As excited children
gather around the grinning clown, who is handing out stickers, I was reminded of
nothing so much as a paedophile priming his victims by doling out sweeties.
The film, a sort of British counterpart to Super Size Me, tells the story of two
activists, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, who took on McDonald's in the courts -
something that few people had ever dared do. In 1990, McDonald's issued libel
writs against both of them after they had been involved in an anti-McDonald's
leaflet campaign. Rather than retract their allegations, they stood their
ground. McDonald's took them to court, and there followed a three-year trial,
the longest in English legal history. Its outcome was inconclusive: the judge
upheld some of the McDonald's complaints, but not others. However, it turned
into a huge PR disaster for the corporation, and helped ensure that it would
think twice about suing anyone else for libel. It is now possible to criticise
McDonald's openly, where previously it seemed that it wasn't. In effect, Steel
and Morris's stubbornness cleared the way for the anti-fast-food movement, and
everything good that has come from it.
Rather than embracing their celebrity activist status, Steel and Morris remain
self-effacing. They have gone back to doing what they used to do - campaigning
on local issues (they are now protesting against an arms factory in Brighton).
Their story, brilliantly captured in Franny Armstrong's film, is a genuinely
inspiring tale of how, in our increasingly standardised world, people who stand
up for their principles can make a difference.
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The Guardian
Andrew Pulver
Friday February 17, 2006
Two ordinary people v Ronald's empire ... McLibel
A video-diary chronicle of the legal action fought between two dead-serious
leftwing activists and fast-food behemoth McDonald's over the contents of a
single leaflet. The wider story is well-known - how the big-money types took
advantage of UK libel laws and how, without legal aid, the campaigners had to
defend themselves in court. But, as seen from the inside, there's a pleasing
they-shall-not-pass feel to Helen Steel and Dave Morris's exhausting endeavour -
which concludes with new material after their success in the European courts -
as well as weird little revelations, like the infiltrator who turned up in a
BMW. What's most evident, though, is the astonishing effect that the internet
has had on this type of activism, converting eccentric political nerds into
heroic techno warriors practically overnight.
Knackered, awkward, self-deprecating and (in Dave's case, especially) warm -
these two unlikely winners seem incorruptible. Hollywood loves this kind of
thing. A McMovie can't be far off. Help!
(3 stars)
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The Times
McLibel
By Wendy Ide
PG, 85 mins
Already shown on television, McLibel now gets a cinematic release. A documentary
about the long-running court battle between the fast food giant McDonald's and
the gardener and postman who refused to be bullied, this likeable film is the
flipside of the bombastic Michael Moore style of activism - mild-mannered but
unmovable, impassioned but resolutely down-to-earth. Even though we all know how
the story ends, this is a very watchable little film about a big battle.
(3 stars)
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Channel 4 website
Word-of-mouth documentary phenomenon Mc Libel is finally getting a cinema
release 11 years after production started on it. The film, made by FourDocs
interviewee Franny Armstrong, tells the story of "The Postman and the Gardener
who took on McDonalds. And won." But you probably know that already, since
according to the production team's estimates, 22 million people have seen the
film already - and that was BEFORE the April 2005 updated cut of the film was
shown on the BBC and released on DVD around the world. Not bad for an indie doc
that essentially came out of Franny's living room and achieved the profile it
currently has through sheer persistence and conviction. Congratulations from all
of FourDocs to everyone involved with the film We reckon that even if you've
seen the film already, you should definitely go and see it in the cinema - not
just to show your support for the distribution of great independent docs in
British cinemas, but also because it'll look absolutely amazing on the big
screen! It's on at Odeon Wardour Street in Soho, London (one cinema for their
one 35mm print!) but it'll hopefully be touring the country and the world very
soon too. Now go and book your tickets.
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Evening Standard
Ronald Wont be Lovin It
Charlotte O'Sullivan - 16 February 2006 -
Still smarting from its bashing at the hands of Super Size Me, McDonald's comes
in for yet another asssault with the release of a documentary about the dynamic
duo who started the backlash.
Back in 1986, gardener Helen Steel and postman Dave Morris dared to criticise
America's most carnivorous clown. In 1990 they found themselves in court and
seven gruelling years later scored a PR victory that is still making waves.
Shot over 10 years, Franny Armstrong's film goes behind the scenes of the pair's
landmark trial and - as well as offering insights into DIY protest - proves
suspensful, funny and moving.
Ken Loach filmed the dramatised court scenes. Fast Food Nation author Eric
Schlosser, meanwhile, pops up to praise the London activists and -
unintentionally - reveals what makes them so special. He's a well dressed
smoothy-chops who seems more than a little seduced by fame.
(Four stars. Joint highest rating of the week! George Clooney's 'Good Night and
Good Luck' got 3 and Heath Ledger's 'Casanova' got 2.)
Receiving a limited cinema release, Franny Armstrong's film is a supersized
version of her 1998 documentary about Dave Morris and Helen Steel, the
campaigners who refused to back down when McDonald's threatened a libel action
in response to an unflattering leaflet the pair had helped to write. The
company's eventual legal victory was decidedly pyrrhic, thanks to the damaging
evidence that Morris and Steel gathered while handling their own defence.
Interviews with some of the anti-Mac witnesses, among them a former Ronald
McDonald, provide the sparkiest moments in a plain account of events. In the art
of using moving pictures to publicise the horrors of fast food, Morgan Spurlock
remains by far the highest achiever. Three stars
(3 stars)
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BBC Radio 5 Live. 17.2.2006
Mark Kermode: McLibel, which is a documentary about these two guys who took on
McDonald's. They published a leaflet, said a whole bunch of things about
McDonald's. McDonald's sued them, they went to court. And you may have seen a
television version of this documentary which ended up with McDonald's winning.
Then they their case to the European Court of Human Rights and they then won at
least some of their case at the European Court.
It is directed by Franny Armstrong and the drama stuff in it is done by Ken
Loach. And it sounds terribly worthy, but I introduced it at the London
Children's Film Festival and they had a discussion afterwards with young members
of the audience who'd come along to see it.
It's a terrific piece of work. It's really interesting. It's out very briefly in
the cinema in this expanded form and then onto DVD and it's really, really good.
It's a real David and Goliath struggle. And you end up when they're waiting for
the European Court ruling to come in, really edge of the seat stuff. It's
terrific.
Mark's pal: Yes. Edge of the seat and European Court hasn't normally gone
together, but here it is for a first.
