Films about mediation, negotiation or conflict resolution

[Gerardo A]

Hi all. This might be unusually specific, but could you guys please help me by recommending films, documentaries or video footage about (or containing scenes on) mediation, negotiation or conflict resolution? Particularly regarding the management or organization of grassroots, intercultural, activist or artistic groups. It's for a new class I'm about to start teaching. I'm thinking about a few Ken Loach ones (like "Bread and Roses"). Maybe some Mike Leigh ("Topsy-Turvy"), Costa Gavras ("Etat de siege"), Kaurismäki, etc. But maybe possibly some Herzog (maybe "Fitzcarraldo"?), Fassbinder, the Taviani brothers, etc.? Thanks!

[Gerardo A]

Something like this (about the OWS model of consensus building) is kind of what I have in mind, although I'd love to get any recs on fictional films, too:

http://youtu.be/6dtD8RnGaRQ

[grant]

Pierre Carles - Bourdieu: Sociology is a Martial Art

Watch it on youtube!

[P. Wretch]

Barbara Kopple's documentaries Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) and American Dream (1990) are both about labour struggles (haven't actually seen the latter, but the former contains many scenes of conflict and negotiation). In a less overtly political vein, the documentaries of Frederick Wiseman are full of scenes of negotiation at the local or institutional level.

Peter Watkins's La Commune (2000) is a fascinating attempt at recreating the chaotic improvisation of the Paris Commune with non-actors, although at 5+ hours in length, it's not exactly suited to classroom viewing.

There must be loads of relevant fiction features, but they're not springing to mind. Oshima's Night and Fog in Japan (1960) concerns the infighting between factions of communist students, but it's pretty heavy viewing. Bill Douglas's Comrades (1986), about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, is excellent, though also long. There's a whole sub-genre of films about radical groups in the 60s/70s (see the Wiki entry for Baader Meinhof ones): one of the more watchable ones from recent years is Marco Bellocchio's Good Morning, Night (2003), about the kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades.

The topic of hostage negotiation would extend the remit to various action films, although that's probably not what you had in mind.

[Matt Wuethrich]

What about 12 Angry Men? Not exactly about grassroots activism, but it's certainly about negotiation, cultural/class differences and conflict resolution.

[Gerardo A]

Thanks, grant, P. Wretch and Matt! Harlan County is pretty much what I had in mind (thanks for the reminder!), but all of the other recommendations are interesting so I'll watch again what I've watched before (like 12 Angry Men) and try to find what I haven't watched (La Commune, the Bourdieu doc, etc.). I taught my first two classes this week and so far we've watched/used as starting points for discussion that OWS consensus model video, The Wire's scene about Stringer's meeting re: product vs. territory, when they begin to use Robert's Rules of Order ("Adjourn your asses!"), an excerpt from Herzog's Where the Green Ants Dream, and a few excerpts of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that Wombatz recommended to me on FB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPS9YKGaKQE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0pzAbekKP0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYCjqmbsmYA

[Eyjafjallajökull]

You should definitely have a look at The Interrupters. It's a documentary following a conflict resoluting group based in Chicago, mainly consisting of highly recognized people in their communities that have earned a lot of street credibility prior to their engagement in said group and who thus definitely know how to approach the kids to subtly impinge upon their psyche and allure them from street violence. I just watched it and, after quite a lot of whimpering and tear shedding, I thought to myself, 'Damn, somebody gotta show this to policy and decision makers.' Even though it's only partially related to your pursuit, there absolutely are plenty of lessons to learn in it.

Plus, it has its very unique impromptu poetry to it. I actually found myself annotating quotes and ended up with two sheets of 'em. I don't want to spoil your experience, so I''m not going to recite those but the last stanzas of Suheir Hammad's First Writing Since instead:

There is life here. Anyone reading this is breathing, maybe hurting,
but breathing for sure. And if there is any light to come, it will
shine from the eyes of those who look for peace and justice after the
rubble and rhetoric are cleared and the phoenix has risen.

Affirm life.
Affirm life.
We got to carry each other now.
you are either with life, or against it.
Affirm life.

[Gerardo A]

Thanks for the warm endorsement of The Interrupters, Eyjafjallajökull, if I'm not mistaken Graham (free math) recommended it to me on FB and I wrote the name down. But now I'll watch it ASAP.

[free math]

It's not on video yet, but is showing on PBS Frontline this month (and circulating online...). I haven't gotten around to watching it yet, but everyone here in Chicago is big on it.

[free math]

Streaming now (not sure for how long): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/interrupters/

[crawjo]

Way late to the party, but if you are still looking for things, I'd suggest the documentary Long Night's Journey Into Day, on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

[Gerardo A]

That sounds like a great one too, thanks for the rec!