July 25th 2021 

Clark Johnson’s film Percy stars Christopher Walken as Percy Schmeiser, the real-life Canadian farmer falsely accused by Monsanto of growing their patented seeds. This slow burning thriller recreates the real events based around the 1998 court battle between Percy and the multinational corporation in true David and Goliath style

In his insightful and intelligent portrayal of the Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser, Christopher Walken plays up the personal moments of his life: his intimate relationship with his carefully cultivated seeds, his wife, his son, his grandchild and his community.  

Percy Schmeiser’s problems began in 1998 when Monsanto claimed his canola harvest (rapeseed) was grown from patented seed containing a genetically modified gene which makes the plant resistant to their powerful pesticide Roundup. Tests on canola samples obtained from Percy’s fields without his permission confirm his crops are contaminated with the gene. According to Monsanto, the money from his harvest and all his painstakingly saved seeds belong to them. 

Percy tells the court he has not had a failed crop in fifty years because he always saved and planted his own seeds, like his father and his father before him. His witnesses say a split sack containing Monsanto’s seeds could have blown from his neighbour’s truck as it passed Percy’s fields. Or, that during a raging storm, he inadvertently took in windblown plants containing the patented seeds from his neighbouring fields. The court’s verdict is that no matter how the company seed got into Percy’s crops, he is obliged to pay Monsanto the money from his harvest, his saved seeds, and legal fees totalling $105,000.

Advised not to appeal the court’s decision by his lawyer Jackson Weaver, played by the excellent Zack Braff, Percy reluctantly switches to growing oats to avoid further fines from Monsanto. He is accused of being a thief by strangers, subjected to crank calls, and followed and intimidated by thugs on the roads around his farm. Monsanto offers farmers a freephone number, effectively a “snitch line,” to call if they suspect their neighbours of growing patented crops without a licence. To add insult to injury Monsanto’s website says Percy knowingly segregated and planted their seeds.

Percy responds to Monsanto’s provocation by embarking on the lecture tour of North America with his wife Louise, portrayed in a brilliantly understated performance by Roberta Maxwell. After much persuasion, a feisty environmental activist Rebecca Salcau, played by the perky Christina Ricci, convinces Percy the tour is the best way to raise money to fund his appeal. The dreamlike collage of scenes of Percy's primordial memories of the land and Rebecca’s vision of the apocalyptic future of chemical farming are a powerful warning of what’s a stake. Percy's court appeal is unanimously rejected, and he now owes $1.2 million in fines, fees, travel and entertainment expenses to Monsanto’s ever expanding legal team.

A pithy screenplay highlights the juxtaposition between the frenetic world of front page media and the slow pace of the bucolic setting on the Schmeiser’s farm. And as Percy’s case hits the headlines the hush of the bright wide open fields of the Saskatchewan plains contrast with the buzz of open plan big city offices and the dim interiors of barns and courthouses.

By using just the right amount of light and shade this thrilling film explores the perception of Percy Schmeiser as both the poster boy for the anti-GM movement and Monsanto’s scapegoat who must be punished for his traditional seed saving methods. Ultimately, Percy is neither, he is a flesh and blood family man standing up to a faceless corporation which is conferred rights as if it were a human being. Given the premise of a David vs Goliath scenario, it’s not too much of a spoiler to reveal that Canada’s Supreme Court of Appeal ultimately found in Percy’s favour, and that he owed Monsanto not a penny.

To date many Canadian farmers who heard Percy's story have refused to grow genetically modified crops and know they can fight back if accused of patent infringement. But since 1996 North American farmers have paid Monsanto somewhere in the region of $85-160 million in seed patent settlements. In daring to ask the question 'Who owns life?' Percy Schmeiser successfully defended his human rights, which for many farmers are increasingly overshadowed by the dominance of the transnational corporations.

Percy Schmeiser (1931-2020) died one month after Percy was released in Canada and North America. He was awarded the Mahatma Ghandi Award (2007) and the Right Livelihood Award (2007) also known as the alternative Nobel Prize with his wife Louise for their courage in defending biodiversity and for challenging the environmental and moral perversity of current interpretations of patent law.

Pic of the real Percy Schmeiser at the Tribunal Against Monsanto at The Hague 2016 (c) Sam Burcher