RSS

Author Archives: Metro Council

The Son (2002)

07 May

103m; Belguim

Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne and Isabella Soupart

Synopsis (IMDB): Olivier – meticulous, careful, even-handed – teaches carpentry at a vocational school in Liège. He’s asked to take on Francis, 16, a new student. He declines the request then begins to watch, even spy on, the new lad. Olivier knows something. Later that day, he’s visited by Magali, his ex-wife, who tells him that she’s remarrying and is pregnant. Olivier seems to follow instinctive responses: “why today?” he demands of Magali; he continues to follow Francis; he changes his mind about enrolling the youth. What’s the history between the two? After that becomes clear, what is it Olivier will do? Is this precise and measured carpenter in control of himself?

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Children, Construction Trades, Drama, Education

 

Song of Strike (2001)

07 May

30m; South Korea

Director: Labor News Production

Synopsis: This series of videos tells the story of the Korean working class through music and footage of the struggle. This stirring video shows the soul of the Korean labor movement.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

Sons and Lovers (1960)

07 May

103m; U.K.

Director: Jack Cardiff

Cast: Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell and Wendy Hiller

Synopsis: Film version of DH Lawrence’s early novel about growing up in a mining town.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Working Class

 

Tags:

Sons of Steel (1934)

07 May

65m; U.S.

Director: Charles Lamont

Cast: Charles Starrett, Polly Ann Young and William Bakewell

Synopsis (IMDB): Chadburne Steel is run by two brothers, old men. They each have different plans for their sons. Curtis (Holmes Herbert) has put Ronald (William Blakewell) through college in style, and gives him a cushy executive job at the plant. John (Walter Walker) has a more twisted plan. He has given his son away at birth to a machinist and his wife. Phillip (Charles Starrett) has worked his way through college tending the furnace and doing rich kids laundry. Upon graduation, he puts Phillip in the lowest paying job possible , with the plan of promoting him to the executive branch in one year.

Both plans are terribly flawed and lead to an industrial accident and a general strike by the steelworkers.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

Tags:

Souls Without Borders – The Untold Story of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade (2006)

07 May

52m; U.S./Spain

Director: Alfonso Domingo, Anthony L. Geist

Synopsis: A wealth of archival footage illuminates this stirring tribute to the International Brigades, an assortment of volunteers who traveled from over 50 countries to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Particular attention is paid to the 2,800 Americans who joined in the struggle while still reeling from the Great Depression. –http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=24141&fid=32

Contact: View here – http://www.albavolunteer.org/2010/05/souls-without-borders-documentary-online/

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Labor History, War

 

Sounder (1972)

07 May

105m; U.S.

Director: Martin Ritt

Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks

Synopsis (IMDB): The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Blacks, Drama, Farm & Food, Labor History, Legal System, Working Class

 

South Riding (2011)

07 May

 

Cast: Anna Maxwell Martin, David Morrissey and Penelope Wilton

Synopsis (IMDB): Set in the 1930s, Britain is in depression and still scarred by the effects of World War I. Young and passionate Sarah Burton returns to her conservative home-county, bursting with modern ideas. As the new headmistress in South Riding, she inspires her girls –including Lydia Holly, a scholarship student from the slums– to think for themselves. But not everyone sees eye-to-eye with Miss Burton. She finds a few allies, Joe Astell being one; but the sparks really start to fly when she crosses paths with Robert Carne, a haughty landlord whom she despises.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Education, Women, Working Class

 

The Southerner (1945)

07 May

92m; U.S.

Director: Jean Renoir

Cast: Zachary Scott, Betty Field and J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis (IMDB): Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle disease, a flood, and a jealous neighbor. Can they make it as farmers?

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Environment, Farm & Food, Working Class

 

The Spanish Earth (1937)

07 May

52m; U.S./Spain

Director: Joris Ivens

Cast: Manuel Azaña, José Díaz and Dolores Ibárruri

Synopsis (IMDB): This documentary tells of the struggles during the Spanish Civil War. It deals with the war at different levels: from the political level, at the ground military level focusing on battles in Madrid and the road from Madrid to Valencia, and at the support level. With the latter, a key project was building an irrigation system for an agricultural field near Fuentedueña so that food could be grown to feed the soldiers.

Narration and writing done by John Dos Passos, Jean Renoir, and Ernest Hemingway.

 

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Labor History, War

 

Spare Parts (2003)

07 May

87m; Italy

Director: Damjan Kozole

Cast: Peter Musevski, Aljosa Kovacic and Primoz Petkovsek

Synopsis (IMDB): Embittered widower, Ludvik, spends his nights transporting illegal refugees in his van from Croatia, across Slovenia, and into Italy. The young and inexperienced Rudi acts as his helpmate. Together they become a well-trained duo who almost every night convey “spare parts” to Italy. Of course the story of their illegitimate exports into Europe ends tragically, for everyone. The whole idea of this account is that everyone – including ourselves – is looking for happiness: the “spare parts” because of the misery they are plunged into without, and our characters because they can’t find it inside

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Immigrants/Immigration, Legal System, Migrant workers

 
← Older posts
Newer posts →