McLibel, which opens at the Varsity Theater this Friday June 24, documents the real-life David-and-Goliath story of two British citizens in a legal battle with one of the largest corporations in the world, McDonalds. Helen Steel, a gardener and part-time bar worker, and Dave Morris, a single father, were part of a nonprofit group that passed out a leaflet called "What's Wrong with McDonalds?" in front of the burger behemoth's restaurants in London in the late eighties. The leaflet criticized the company's practices of promoting unhealthy food, exploiting workers, damaging the environment, causing cruelty to animals, and harming poor people around the world.

Activists handing out leaflets--no big deal, right? But it would lead to the longest-running legal battle in British history and what's been described as "the biggest corporate PR disaster" ever.

After infiltrating the group with "McSpies," McDonalds brought a libel suit against five individual members in 1990, offering them a stark choice: retract the allegations and apologize, or go to court. Facing seemingly insurmountable odds, three of the five agreed to apologize. Steel and Morris refused, and took the case to court. They were denied the legal assistance typically provided in the UK and were denied a trial by jury. So with no money and no legal experience, Steel and Morris defended themselves in court against a legal team of seven top attorneys hired by McDonalds. During the course of the three-year-long trial, McDonalds spent an estimated US $20 million to make their case.

British libel law puts all the burden on the defendants to prove every claim they've made; McDonald's didn't have to prove anything; it simply had to cast doubt on the activists' allegations. So the trial basically consisted of the activists seeking to prove every allegation that had been made in their leaflet.

As the trial progressed, it focused public attention on McDonald's harmful corporate practices. Many people rallied in support of Steel and Morris, helping with the case and helping to set up a website, McSpotlight.org, to focus on the issues of the case. Millions of copies of the original "What's Wrong with McDonalds?" leaflet were distributed all around the world.

Although McDonalds thought it was putting Steel and Morris on trial, it quickly became apparent that the company had put its own practices on trial. Early on, McDonalds' top executives flew to London and offered to settle out of court, but the activists refused, and pressed on, making their case in courtroom, as well as the court of public opinion.

In the end, the judge ruled that the "McLibel 2".had proven some of their allegations, but not all. Steel and Morris were fined the equivalent of US$76,000, but they refused to pay, declaring that the company "didn't deserve a penny." Not wanting any more bad publicity, McDonalds never tried to enforce the ruling and let the matter drop.

This much of the story was documented in an earlier, shorter version of McLibel. But the film was later expanded and re-edited into a full-length feature to include a segment about Steel and Morris taking their case to the European Court of Human Rights, which finally ruled in February of this year that British laws had breached their rights to a fair trial and their freedom of expression.

For a look at ordinary people making a truly extraordinary impact, go see McLibel.

The film is being distributed by Cinema Libre Studio (http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com). The Seattle affiliate of ReclaimDemocracy.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring democratic authority over corporations, is providing promotional support locally.