Bananas!* Fredrik Gertten, Sweden, 2009, 88 minutes
Saturday, May 8 | 2:00pm | Vancity Theatre
In the Nicaraguan village of Chinandega, another banana plantation worker named Alberto Rosales is laid to rest. But even as the priest conducting the service rails against multinational corporations who poison their workers, the larger truth of the situation becomes apparent. Alberto Rosales is only one more casualty in a country that has suffered a human, as well as an ecological nightmare, with pesticides leaching into the soil, the water, and even human breast milk, all for the sake of the humble banana.
When the pesticide Nemagon was banned in North America in 1977 because of its side effects, it was still business as usual in South America. Despite the fact that Dole knew Nemagon caused sterility in men and cancer in women, they kept using the chemical on their plantations in South America. With no warnings or protective equipment for the workers, it’s estimated that as many as 67% of plantation workers are sterile. When personal injury lawyer Juan Dominguez discovered that a number of former plantation workers were taking on Dole, one of the world’s largest fruit and vegetable producers, his sense of injustice was tweaked. “I’ve never experienced something like that in my life,” he says. With over 10,000 workers claiming they have suffered from the effects of pesticide use, the scope of the case is staggering. The stakes are clearly rendered as grown men burst into tears when they’re told they can’t father children, and the lawyers present their cases about corporate accountability. In the word of one prosecutor: “You will not find one sentence, one thought, one concern for the effect of this chemical on their workers, even after they [Dole] knew.”
An incredibly fraught courtroom drama, an ecological nightmare, as well as a study in corporate morality (or lack thereof), Bananas!* is positively packed with drama. Director Fredrik Gertten was even sued by the Dole Company prior to his film’s premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival (the case was subsequently dropped). This David versus Goliath battle could potentially open up Dole to thousands of lawsuits and set a precedent for future cases against other American corporations who have caused death and suffering around the world in the pursuit of profit.
Discussion to follow with:
Adriana Paz Ramirez Justicia for Migrant Workers, BC
Adriana is originally from Bolivia and emigrated to Canada in 2003. Adriana has a background in Social Communication and Journalism. In Bolivia she has worked mostly as educator using popular education as a tool for empowerment and self-determination. In Canada she has engaged with the migrant justice movement since 2005 and co-founded the volunteers collective Justicia for Migrant Workers in BC, a collective that works with migrant farm workers who come through the federal Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. “To me justice means to have equal rights, equal opportunities, access to meaningful participation, and dignity.”
Kirsten Daub CUPE BC, Café Ético
Kirsten Daub is the Coordinator of Café Etico, a fair trade, organic
coffee company owned by CoDevelopment Canada, a Vancouver-based NGO
whose worker-to-worker projects in Nicaragua, Cuba and Colombia are
funded by CUPE BC. A member of CUPE 1004, Kirsten has worked with Café
Etico and CoDevelopment Canada for the past five years in a variety of
positions. She also volunteers with the BC Central America Student
Alliance, an organization that works in solidarity with Guatemalan
social justice groups. Kirsten holds a master's from Simon Fraser University in Latin American Studies. “If the banana plantation workers who toil for Dole could afford to eat the product they produce, had full health benefits and a toxin-free work environment, that would be some measure of justice.”
“The case could make history, marking the first time Third World agricultural workers are heard in U.S. court, and set precedent, allowing him to sue on behalf of the many other Chinandega locals awaiting their day in court. ...Bananas!* is quite balanced, airing the opening and closing arguments of both sides.”
- Peter Debruge, Variety
Director’s biography
Fredrik Gertten is one of Sweden’s most prominent documentary film makers. He is well known in his native country for films with a strong connection to the Malmö-region including Architectural projects like the Turning Torso skyscraper (The Socialist, the Architect and the Twisted Tower), the Öresund bridge (Walking on Water) and the local soccer team (True Blue).
Adriana Paz Ramirez
Kirsten Daub
