This multilayered examination of the struggle of the blue-collar working class holds a mirror to the political landscape in contemporary Portugal, and runs the gamut from cinema vérité to neorealist musical. Employees at an elevator parts manufacturer catch thieves robbing the factory. But the thieves have been hired by the management, who soon order the workers to report for their shifts and do nothing until the company-wide layoffs can begin. Factions form around those who want to strike and save their jobs and those who just want a decent severance package. FIPRESCI Prize, 2017 Cannes Film Festival; Official Selection, 2017 Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Busan film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Pedro Pinho; SCR/PROD Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo; PROD João Matos, Susana Nobre. Portugal, 2017, color, 177 min. In Portuguese and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Run Time: 177 Minutes
Genre: Drama
Category Archives: Drama
A BETTER LIFE
(Chris Weitz, US 2011, 98 min., 35mm)
Set in contemporary East Los Angeles the film, whose plot partially parallels that of Bicycle Thief, sympathetically depicts experiences of undocumented Mexican immigrants including manual labor, schools, gangs, family, ICE and deportation. Mexican-American actor Demián Bichir received an Oscar nomination for his moving portrayal of a father who risks everything to make una vida mejor for his son.
Death in Sarajevo
Smrt u Sarajevu
DANIS TANOVIC
Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2016
85 minutes, Color
Official website
Winner of the Jury Grand Prix and the International Film Critics Award at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, Death in Sarajevo is a timely drama from acclaimed Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic (FFDC 2015’s Tigers, the 2001 Foreign Language Oscar®-winning No Man’s Land). At Sarajevo’s Hotel Europe, preparations are under way to host the European Union’s centenary commemorating the assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip that triggered World War I, a French actor is in the Presidential Suite rehearsing the Bernard-Henri Levy play from which the hotel got its name, and a TV crew is filming local scholars discussing regional history. Manager Omer is dealing with a cash flow problem and a looming strike by workers while his assistant, Lamija, tries to keep things organized in the face of growing discord. What could possibly go wrong in the course of this highly charged history lesson?—Eddie Cockrell
In Bosnian with English subtitles
Hard Labor (2015) (Trabalhar Cansa)
Directed by: Marco Dutra & Juliana Rojas
Running Time: 1 hr 39 min
Starring: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima
Website: N/a
Synopsis: Young housewife Helena is on the verge of fulfilling a dream as she prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. She hires a maid, Paula, to take care of her house and daughter. But when her husband Otavio is suddenly fired from his job as an insurance executive, Helena is left to support the family alone. As Otavio fails to find work and becomes increasingly alienated, business struggles to take off and the pressure on Helena mounts. To make things worse, she discovers that one of the building’s brick walls seems to be crumbling. Helena begins to wonder if that may be the cause of all her problems.
At Any Price (2012)
Directed by: Ramin Bahrani
Running Time: 105 min
Starring: N/A
Website: N/a
Synopsis: A farming family’s business is threatened by an unexpected crisis, further testing the relationship between a father and his rebellious son.
Strike (Eisenstein) 100th anniv of Russian Revolution
Directed by: Sergei M. Esenstein
Running Time: 1 hr 22 min
Starring: N/A
Website: N/a
Synopsis: A group of oppressed factory workers go on strike in pre-revolutionary Russia.
No God, No Master (2013)
Directed by: Terry Green
Running Time: 1 hr 34 min
Starring: N/A
Website: http://www.montereymedia.com/nogodnomaster/
Synopsis: He becomes immersed in an investigation that uncovers an anarchist plot to destroy democracy. Inspired by true events of the 20s the film sets the stage for a timely thriller with resoundingly similar parallels to the contemporary war on terrorism and the role government plays to defeat it.
Native Land (1942)
Directed by: Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand
Running Time: 1hr 20 min
Starring: N/A
Website
Synopsis:In dramatizations, we see a farmer beaten for speaking up at a meeting, a union man murdered in a boarding house, two sharecroppers near Fort Smith Arkansas shot by men deputized by the local sheriff, a spy stealing the names of union members, and a dead Chicago union man eulogized.
A combination of a documentary format and staged reenactments, the film depicted the struggle of trade unions against union-busting corporations, their spies and contractors. It was based on the 1938 report of the La Follette Committee‘s investigation of the repression of labor organizing.
Famous African-American singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson participated as an off-screen narrator and vocalist.
I, Daniel Blake (2016)
Directed by: Ken Loach
Running Time: 100 min
Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Sharon Percy
Synopsis: A middle aged carpenter who requires state welfare after injuring himself is joined by a single mother in a similar scenario.
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