The Internationale
Studio: First Run Features
WorkNameSort: Internationale, The
At 135 years old, it would be wonderful to say that ‘The Internationaleâ?� ‘ the workers’ rights song this brief documentary focuses on ‘ has aged well. For if it had, this half-hour of watching crusty lefties natter on about ’empowermentâ?� and ‘inspirationâ?� wouldn’t have seemed like a half-hour of futile workers’-paradise porn. Aiming solely at ineffective and out-of-touch ‘activists,â?� Pete Seeger narrates as if everyone on the planet is in solidarity with garment factory workers and anti-WTO protesters, completely unaware that most people just don’t care. The goals illuminated by The Internationale are noble, but the grating sight of aging hippies and dumpy collegiate activists permanently ensconced in a bubble of archaic socialist ideology makes clear that ‘The Internationaleâ?� hasn’t aged well at all. Instead, it’s become a soundtrack to irrelevance.
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2006.