The Grab
The Grab is a 2022 American documentary film directed and produced by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It follows investigative journalists at The Center for Investigative Reporting as they uncover efforts to control food and water resources. The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September8, 2022, and was released on June14, 2024, by Magnolia Pictures and Participant.
Plot
The film follows investigative journalists at The Center for Investigative Reporting as they uncover efforts by sovereign powers, private finance, and mercenary groups to take control over global food and water supplies in preparation for potential production collapses due to climate change.The film outlines how several nation states and other actors use force, economics, and illegal mercenaries to take control of food and water stocks. The narrative begins with the 2014 purchase of US-based Smithfield Foods by Chinese WH Group, which the filmmakers say gave WH Group ownership of over a quarter of all pigs in the US. It then follows other hard-to-explain deals, such as the purchase of arid land in Arizona by a Saudi-based company, Russians hiring American cowboys to work in a region too cold for farmland, and Blackwater deals to secure land in Africa. They "follow the money" behind these strange commercial arrangements and identify connections between governments, commercial enterprises and legal and illegal military actors such as mercenary companies. The filmmakers ultimately draw the conclusion these actions are all part of separate efforts by these groups to position themselves to take advantage of collapses in food and water production due to the effects of climate change such as increased severe weather and drought.
While the film is mostly archive and research image collages, it also contains some guerrilla film making, such as of the crew being denied access and detained at a Zambian airport.