129m; U.S.
Director: John Ford
Cast: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
Synopsis (IMDB): A poor Midwest family is forced off of their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Category Archives: A: Highly Recommended Labor Films
At The River I Stand (1993)
56m; U.S.
Director: David Appleby, Allison Graham, Steven Ross
Synopsis: Documents the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike and the historical forces which came together with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. NOTE: see I Am A Man for a 10m version.
Opening Sequence
9 to 5 (1980)
110m; U.S
Director: Colin Higgins
Cast: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton
Synopsis (IMDB): Frank Hart is a pig. He takes advantage in the grossest manner of the women who work with him. When his three assistants manage to trap him in his own house they assume control of his department and productivity leaps, but just how long can they keep Hart tied up?
Trailer
Bound for Glory (1976)
147m; USA
Director: Hal Ashby
Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox and Melinda Dillon
Synopsis: Film biography of American folksinger Woody Guthrie.
Trailer
Full Film
Burn! (1969)
132m; Italy
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez and Norman Hill
Synopsis: Pontecorvo’s follow-up to The Battle of Algiers tells a story of imperial intrigue on a fictional Portuguese “sugar and slaves” colony in the Caribbean in the 1840s. Marlon Brando plays a British agent who helps convince Jose Dolores, one of the island’s many African slaves, to lead a revolt – which temporarily aligns with the local elite and wins independence. However, the African slaves’ economic and social position remains virtually the same under the new regime. Years later, Brando’s character must return as the Africans are now revolting against their new masters. Pontecorvo uses the story as a metaphor less for any one particular historical incident, but as a left-wing commentary on the full history of slavery, empire, neo-colonialism and resistance for the past two centuries.
Opening Title
Full Film (in 12 Parts)
Baran (2001)
94m; Iran
Director: Majid Majidi
Synopsis: Immigrant construction workers in Tehran through the eyes of a young child worker.
Trailer
Brassed Off (1996)
101m; U.K.
Director: Mark Herman
Cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Sue Johnston, Stephen Moore, Ken Colley, Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Synopsis (IMDB): Laid-off miners in 90’s England. “A small Yorkshire mining town is threatened with being shut down and the only hope for the town’s men is to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win. In joining the band she puts her relationship with her childhood sweetheart Andy (Ewan McGregor) on the line.”
Trailer
Key Scene
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
93m; Ital
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola and Lianella Carell
Synopsis (IMDB): A poor young father in postwar-ravaged Rome who finally finds work putting up Rita Hayworth posters around town, only to have his precious bicycle stolen the first day on the job. In a light moment as the father and his young son chase after the thief, the boy attempts to relieve himself against a wall, and his father lets him know they don’t have time for that. In another scene, the father tracks the thief into the kitchen of a brothel.
Trailer
Black Girl (La Noire de…) (1965)
60M; Senegal
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Cast: Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek and Robert Fontaine
Synopsis (IMDB): A Senegalese woman is eager to find a better life abroad. She takes a job as a governess for a French family, but finds her duties reduced to those of a maid after the family moves from Dakar to the south of France. In her new country, the woman is constantly made aware of her race and mistreated by her employers. Her hope for better times turns to disillusionment and she falls into isolation and despair. The harsh treatment leads her to consider suicide the only way out.
Full Film
Bread and Roses (2000)
110m; U.S.
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody and Elpidia Carrillo
Synopsis (IMDB): Maya is a quick-witted young woman who comes over the Mexican border without papers and makes her way to the LA home of her older sister Rosa. Rosa gets Maya a job as a janitor: a non-union janitorial service has the contract, the foul-mouthed supervisor can fire workers on a whim, and the service-workers’ union has assigned organizer Sam Shapiro to bring its “justice for janitors” campaign to the building. Sam finds Maya a willing listener, she’s also attracted to him. Rosa resists, she has an ailing husband to consider. The workers try for public support; management intimidates workers to divide and conquer. Rosa and Maya as well as workers and management may be set to collide.
Trailer
