We Are Many

The Stop the War march on 15 February 2003 now seems a mere historical footnote from the early 21st century, particularly as the Iraq War went ahead regardless of millions of people marching in protest all over the world. However, director Amir Amirani's rousing, sometimes moving, chronicle of the global outcry to stop the US/UK-led conflict is an inspiring experience thanks to spot-on archive and incisive contributions from speakers ranging from Damon Albarn and John le Carré to indefatigable anti-war campaigner Tony Benn and weapons inspector Hans Blix. The outcome is known but you still get a frisson of excitement from the countdown to the march and the last-ditch attempts to postpone hostilities. And the film offers some room for optimism, too, by revealing how the biggest mass demonstration in history (70m people in 789 cities worldwide... and the Antarctic) inspired the movers of the Arab Spring and even deterred the US/UK intervention in Syria in 2013. One Egyptian activist was amazed "white, whiskey-drinking infidels" could point the way. Seeing unapologetic US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ambushed by protesters and labelled a war criminal is also worth the entrance fee, too. A valuable tribute to protest, it's a film that should be seen by the many.