88m; U.S.
Director: David Riker
Synopsis: Construction workers/immigrant workers.
Category Archives: Drama
La Promesse
92m; Belgium
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Jérémie Renier, Olivier Gourmet and Assita Ouedraogo
Synopsis: Igor and his father, Roger, are making a decent living renting apartments to illegal immigrants and sometimes working them illegally (among other scams). But when the building inspector pays a surprise visit and Amidou falls off a scaffold in his hurry to hide, things start to unravel, particularly when Igor makes a promise to the injured Amidou that ultimately exposes the different values of Igor and Roger, and of Amidou’s wife, Assita.
La Terra Trema (1948)
160m; Italy
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli and Antonio Arcidiacono
Synopsis: In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
Labor’s Reward (1925)
Synopsis (National Film Preservation Foundation):
Produced by the American Federation of Labor, Labor’s Reward is probably the earliest surviving film sponsored by an American labor union. Although only the third of five reels survives (along with a shorter fragment), the reel makes for a relatively self-contained story. In the lost earlier reels a father is injured at a nonunion machine shop. Receiving no workers’ compensation, his family must rely on the wages of the elder daughter, Mary, who toils at a nonunion bookbindery. As reel 3 begins, friend Tom finds Mary bedridden from overwork.
When Labor’s Reward was made in 1925, the American labor movement was struggling after the suppression of more militant unions. Labor’s Reward was intended to turn the situation around by demonstrating the AFL’s “constructive methods” and by appealing to “the purchasing public” to buy union-made products. With its female focus, the film also addressed the AFL’s history of regarding women workers as low-paid competitors. It is women who here show Tom the importance of buying a hat with a union label. Widely advertised, Labor’s Reward was screened for free. The AFL-affiliated American Federation of Musicians provided the live accompaniment.
http://www.filmpreservation.org/dvds-and-books/clips/labor-s-reward-1925
Labor in the Mountains (2005)
55m; U.S.
Synopsis: A grandfather recounts the history of labor unions in West Virginia to his granddaughter. His story spans from the civil war era to the current labor movement in the state. Labor Union; West Virginia; Civil War labor movement; Great Uprising; General Strike; United Mine Workers of America; UMW; United Steel Workers.
Contact: Available as VHS or DVD, $5 from Labor in the Mountains Foundation, ILSR/WVU, 719 Knapp Hall, Morgantown WV 26506. Telephone: (304) 293-3323 Toll Free: 1-800-499-0486 Fax: (304) 293-3395
Rodosha (The Laborer) [2006]
20m; Japan
Director: Darryl Knickrehm
Synopsis: Kay Fujita, Tatsuya Masuda and Dan Yukino
Synopsis (IMDB): In a life of work, we work to live life. One businessman has the opportunity to take a step back and look at his life. To his dismay he sees a man who not only labored at work but also in life. The Laborer is a tale of two levels. It is a commentary of the workaholic lifestyles of the world. But more importantly it is the intimate story of a man who is detached from his feelings and as a result has prevented himself from taking the opportunities of life.
Ladybird, Ladybird (1994)
101m; U.K.
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Crissy Rock, Vladimir Vega and Sandie Lavelle
Synopsis (IMDB): This Ken Loach docu-drama relates the story of a British womanUs fight with Social Services over the care of her children. Maggie has a history of bouncing from one abusive relationship to another. She has four children, of four different fathers, who came to the attention of Social Services when they were injured in a fire. Subsequently, Maggie was found to be an “unfit mother” and her children were removed from her care. She finally meets the man of her dreams, a Paraguayan expatriate, and they start a family together. Unfortunately, Social Services seems unwilling to accept that her life has changed and rends them from their new children. She and Jorge together, and separately, fight Social Services, Immigration, and other government bureaucrats in a desperate battle to make their family whole again
Laila’s Birthday (2008)
71m; Palestine/Tunisia/Netherlands
Director: Rashid Masharawi
Cast: Mohammed Bakri, Areen Omari and Nour Zoubi
Synopsis (IMDB): Abu Laila used to be a judge, but because the government doesn’t have the means to renew his assignment he is forced to be a taxi driver. On the day his daughter Laila becomes seven years old his wife insists that he’ll be at home early and bring her a present and a cake. Abu Laila’s has nothing else on his mind then completing this mission. But the daily life in Palestine has other plans.
Land and Freedom (1995)
109m; U.K.
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor and Icíar Bollaín
Synopsis: A young British communist volunteers to fight in Spain with the POUM militia in the civil war. He joins an international set of leftists in the fight, however the POUM eventually becomes a target not only of the fascists, but also of the Stalin-backed Spanish republic. The film is loosely based on George Orwell’s memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia.
The Job (Ill Posto) [1961]
93m; Italy
Director: Ermanno Olmi
Synopsis: Alienated experience of Italian youth in a big company.
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