Fredrik Gertten's 2009 film Bananas!* might easily have become another forgotten liberal doc about workers’ rights, until US food corporation Dole, taking umbrage at the exposé of its pesticide policy, slapped a lawsuit on the Swedish filmmaker.
Gertten filmed the ensuing circus, veering from terror at Dole’s orchestrated smear campaign to ballsy, fighting-back bravado.
While there are drawbacks to the director framing himself as the film’s hero, this is a compelling case study in the perils of taking on Goliath, and a timely parable about modern media and corporate “reputation anxiety”.
