McLibel is an extraordinary tale of how two ordinary people, gardener Helen Steel and postman Dave Morris stood against the multi-national giant, McDonalds and took them down!
This no-budget film directed by Fanny Armstrong over a period of 10 years highlights the importance of freedom of speech against the corporate giants with every resource at their disposal.
McDonald’s loved using the UK libel laws to suppress criticism and had previously even forced major media organizations like the BBC and The Guardian to bow down and apologize. But when they sued Helen and Dave, they met their match because they were not the ones to say sorry. They represented themselves against McDonald’s £10 million legal team in one of the longest trials in the English legal history, where every detail of the corporation’s business was dissected and critically examined, from from junk food and McJobs, to animal cruelty, environmental damage and advertising to children. McDonalds was utterly humiliated and tried every trick against them ranging from legal manoeuvres to a visit from Ronald McDonald to even top executives flying to London for secret settlement negotiations.
But seven years later, in February 2005, the battle finally concluded at the European Court of Human Rights and announced the results in favor of the duo, forever changing the way things worked.
