Percy Vs Goliath

In the late 1990’s, Percy Schmeiser, a lowly farmer in Saskatchewan, found himself on the wrong end of a lawsuit, accused of stealing seeds and illegally planting genetically modified Round Up resistant canola crops. Percy, a multi-generational farmer contested that he, like his forefathers before him, never bought or stole seeds for his crop but, instead, saved his seeds from the previous year’s harvest and that the Monsanto Corporation’s GMO seeds had to have been spread onto his land by other means. Monsanto fought back stating that no matter how the seeds got there they were still their property and sued for all the seeds, crop profits and legal fees, something Percy could not afford to pay. Rather than settle and be condemned in the eyes of his fellow farmers, Percy, encouraged by an enthusiastic representative for the People’s Environmental Protect, who has some motivations of her own, take on the giant corporation, battling them all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court, not only for Percy’s farm but for the rights of all farmers throughout the world who find themselves at the mercy of big agriculture. These are the facts that Percy Vs Goliath dramatizes, taking a few liberties with characters and timelines but mostly portraying things truthfully.  

Films about the little guy fighting against big business are not unique. Hollywood if rife with courtroom films dramatizing long shot court cases where the underdog with limited resources runs headlong into the face of the seemingly endless suits representing the faceless, often demonized, business. In order to stand out amongst all these other films, Percy needed something else to drive it than just a perceived injustice. What it had was a courtroom decision that could potentially dramatically impact small-time farming rights, something that affects everyone on one level or another. It also looks, to a lesser degree, at GMO’s and how big business can use legally seize crops from farmers if their intellectual property manages to get into the farmer’s yield, no matter how it happened.

Christopher Walken plays the title character, Percy. His portrayal here is interesting because he chooses to play it very laid back (something the real Percy was not), reluctant to speak up yet determined to defend himself. His insistence that he did nothing wrong and that Monsanto’s GMO canola seeds had to have been blown onto his land from torn bags one of his neighbors purchased for their own land only causes a legal shift from the plaintiff. He is in over his head, being pushed to bury his pride and settle out of court when he can scarcely afford to do so. 

Enter into the picture Rebecca Salcau (Christina Ricci). Rebecca sees this court case as a way to push into the limelight an agenda against the use of GMO’s, especially a plan Monsanto has announced for modified wheat that further threatens small farmers. She promotes to Percy an opportunity to speak out against the practice and Monsanto specifically, using the speaking engagements to solicit donations to help with the ever increasing legal fees. Her drive to get the message out puts strain on Percy and his wife who are ill prepared for the traveling and speaking but see no other option if they are to further the fight. Once Percy loses the court case and then the appeal, even she cannot continue helping him as her group can no longer afford to support him. Christina Ricci does a descent job at portraying this character but the script spends most of its time developing Percy to the detriment of everyone else. With the limited focus there is little to work with but Ricci runs with it and does her best to paint a whole character. The most fascinating aspects of Rebecca are not her altruism but the shadiness just behind that façade. She misrepresents her background in order to gain Percy’s trust, yet there is no ill intent. There’s a level of selfishness behind her actions but not malice. When she appears in the final scene to apologize she sells the pain she is feeling for her actions even though those actions have benefitted farmers everywhere if not Percy directly.

As this is a true story it doesn’t have an entirely happy ending. The final appeal to the Canadian Supreme Court lands in favor of both sides of the argument. Neither party emerges unscathed. As drama it works in a way that an entirely fictional story would not. After all, this is a David and Goliath story with real world implications. As such, the Goliath of the story is mostly faceless, represented by a handful of lawyers as well as other individuals, mostly nameless aggressors. On the David side we have not only Percy but the other farmers whose livelihoods may hinge on the decisions of the court. It’s a real world struggle dramatizes and simplified to get a message across to audiences while staying relatively true to real events. 

While the subject may not be unique, the execution certainly is. This is a well made film that successfully dramatizes a conflict between two immovable forces, the faceless corporation and the familiar faces of rural farmers. The scope appears at face value to be small until things open up to reveal just how global an issue this really is. This is a small movie about big ideas and it mostly succeeds at portraying them in a way people can follow without an extensive background in agriculture. The two women in the story, Rebecca and Percy’s wife,  could have been fleshed out a little better but this is only a minor quibble. It’s a well made film about a subject that could stand for a little more media scrutiny.

Release Date: October 9, 2020

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Rated PG-13

Starring: Christopher Walken, Christina Ricci, Zach Braff, Luke Kirby, Adam Beach, Martin Donovan, Roberta Maxwell and Peter Stebbings

Directed By: Clark Johnson