LEWISTON — The Western Maine Labor Council will present a free movie showing of the political thriller “The Take,” at 6;30 p.m.Tuesday, July 21, at the IBEW 567 Union Hall, 238 Goddard Road. The movie is open to the public and a discussion will follow.

“Given the endless rounds of layoffs, plant closings and benefit cuts in Maine of late, the movie offers much food for thought about how workers can stand together and take action to win real victories,” said Don Berry, president of the Western Maine Labor Council.

In the wake of Argentina’s dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They’re part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system.

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act — The Take — has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.

The story of the workers’ struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they’ll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive.

With “The Take,” director Avi Lewis, one of Canada’s most outspoken journalists, and writer Naomi Klein, author of the international bestseller No Logo, champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century. But what shines through in the film is the simple drama of workers’ lives and their struggle: the demand for dignity and the searing injustice of dignity denied.

For more information about the film, go to www.thetake.org