“The Grab” - Film Review
It’s hard to know where to begin with The Grab. It could very easily sound like the nonsensical ramblings of conspiracy theorists who believe there’s a singular shadow government that’s pulling the strings of the sociopolitical climate of the world. The real answer is far more mundane. The Grab is a documentary about greed, fear, and self-preservation playing out on a global scale. The effects of this secretive, high-stakes game will only benefit those already in power while everyone else suffers.
Investigative journalists at The Center for Investigative Reporting are the focus of The Grab. The documentary follows these journalists as they start pulling at the threads of the global effort by countries to buy up land and water resources. Food security is one of the issues that’s behind these land grabs. These journalists believe World War III is on the horizon and that water is what all sides will be fighting for. The Grab plays out like a political thriller, dropping revelation after revelation about the future of our world.
The Grab is one of those documentaries whose subject matter greatly outweighs its execution in terms of cinematic style. But isn’t that part of what makes filmmaking an enduring artform? The ease with which it can convey information to the masses. We’ve seen it time and again with propaganda, misinformation, and bombshells with journalistic integrity. The Grab is a Hail Mary to get people to be aware and pay attention. It’s not an answer or a remedy, but it’s an alarm to get people to pay attention.
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Unfortunately, it’s not merely the everyday person that needs to be changed. It’s also those whose thirst for power is unquenchable. The Grab tells us that we’re already capable of providing food for everyone on the planet, but it’s the desire to gain more money, more power, more notoriety that keeps us from a world where everyone is cared for. It’s nothing new, but strangely, The Grab presents these power grabs as something distinctly modern. For as long as there have been humans, we’ve had imperialism and colonialism, the effects of which we’re still dealing with. As new as the information The Grab uncovers is, it’s a tale as old as time. The documentary would have done better to make those connections rather than pretending that what we’re seeing is unprecedented. Sure, technology and our global economy make things far more interconnected than people in the past could have fathomed, but those in power displacing those without means to defend themselves is the backbone of human history.
The issue with The Grab is that the ground it’s trying to cover is ever-expanding. As one of the journalists remarks, in the beginning he was just covering the acquisition of Smithfield Meats by a Chinese company. Now he finds himself in the quicksand of a much larger, almost incomprehensible web that touches every aspect of life as we know it. To think that any one issue can be looked at on its own is naive. Our actions have global consequences, and the world’s most powerful people are playing the moves of a chess game with ramifications we won’t see for at least a decade. It would be nearly impossible for The Grab to feel fully cohesive because there’s no end in sight. At this point, the end isn’t even close enough to see.
Like many of the issues plaguing our world, the issues presented in The Grab are fixable, but it’s a matter of those in power deciding that they prefer things as they are. They’d rather protect themselves than offer a helping hand to people with less than them. The Grab is disheartening because it just confirms what so many of us already see: self-interest is at the heart of all economic and political decisions. We can solve global warming, food inequality, and a myriad of other troubles, but those who hold the cards know that it’s better for their wallets if they don’t. Perhaps that’s what’s so terrifying. How do you get someone to care about other human beings who have nothing to offer them financially? That’s what The Grab boils down to: how do we get people to give a damn? To even ask that question highlights a disappointing reality of the state of humanity, and it’s not a new question at all.
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