“The Take,” opening Friday at the Music Box Theatre, is a political documentary with a terrific theme. It’s about the recent economic collapse of Argentina and the gallant attempt of groups of laid-off workers to occupy the abandoned factories and start them up again as co-operatives. Nothing could seem more quixotic, and that’s what makes it such a great movie subject. “The Take” becomes a classic “little-guy-against-the-establishment” story, and director Avi Lewis and writer-producer Naomi Klein (the author of the globalization politics book “No Logo”) play it for all its worth.
Their technique may be a bit rough, but their hearts are sturdy. On the spot for the 2003 worker occupation of the Buenos Aires Forja Auto Parts factory–one of a series of similar actions that began in 2001–the filmmakers bring us close to the participants while providing heavy historical context. They focus on the swamp of violence, military juntas and political-industrial corruption that has afflicted Argentine politics since the Peron era. At the center of the opposition (and a really effective movie villain) is Carlos Menem, the handsome, personable, telegenic president from 1989-99, who, in a decade of misrule, embraced big business interests and led his country over the economic cliff into an abyss of debt and financial ruin.
Anyone interested in contemporary Latin American politics will be drawn to “The Take.” But it has universal implications as well. How similar are our own affable politicos to likeable opportunists such as Menem? Is there a lesson to be learned? Lewis and Klein have a lot to show and tell their story so rousingly and effectively one can’t help but be moved and unsettled by it. In English and Spanish, with English subtitles.
“The Take” ((star)(star)1/2) plays Fri.-Thur. at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave. Call 773-871-6604 or visit www.musicboxtheatre.com. No MPAA rating. Parents cautioned for mature themes. Running time: 1:27.
