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Category Archives: Big Business/Corporations

The Blue Collar Worker and the Hairdresser in a Whirl of Sex and Politics (1996)

13 Jun

101m; Italy

Director: Lina Wertmüller

Cast: Tullio Solenghi, Gene Gnocchi and Veronica Pivetti

Synopsis (Amazon): It’s spontaneous combustion when Tunin meets Rossella at a victory rally the night of the hotly contested election. She’s a right wing pro-business zealot. He’s a leftist labor organizer whose libido shifts into overdrive the moment he sees the fiery Rossella. Tunin’s determined to seduce her, but Rossella conceives her own plan to deal with the self-centered Lothario. Only two obstacles stand in the way of a blissful union – their politics and his wife. Passion and politics run amok in this delightfully sexy farce, the latest from director Lina Wertmuller.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Comedy, Communism/Socialism, Organizing

 

Working Girl (1988)

13 Jun

113m; U.S.

Director: Mike Nichols

Cast: Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver

Synopsis (IMDB): Tess McGill is a frustrated secretary, struggling to forge ahead in the world of big business in New York. She gets her chance when her boss breaks her leg on a skiing holiday. McGill takes advantage of her absence to push ahead with her career. She teams up with investment broker Jack Trainer to work on a big deal. The situation is complicated after the return of her boss.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Comedy, Drama, Finance, Romance, Women

 

Your Loan is Denied (1992)

13 Jun

 

Synopsis: From Frontline, this production looks at the discriminatory practices by the banks of America and the dire consequences that result when the foremost mortgage-lending institutes set their loan protocol based on any color other than green. Brought to video by PBS, correspondent Bill Schechner introduces two African-American professionals, Peter and Dolores Green who are suing a Chicago area bank for refusing to finance the purchase of the home they have lived in for 30 years. In association with the Center for Investigative Reporting, this documentary shows the tragic effects of racial bias as entire neighborhoods find themselves fighting for economic survival.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Blacks, Documentary, Finance

 

Sick Around the World (2008)

13 Jun

56m; U.S.

Synopsis: In the Frontline documentary, Sick Around the World, T. R. Reid, a Washington Post correspondent, raises the controversial and timely issue of how America’s heath care system might be improved. The filmmakers chose to investigate healthcare in five advanced industrialized capitalist countries instead of nations where “socialized” medicine is the norm. By providing Americans with valuable but little known information about the successes and failures of health care in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and Switzerland, it offers a base of comparison for progressive health care reform in the U.S

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Documentary, Safety & Health

 

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Crossing the American Crises: From Collapse to Action (2011)

13 Jun

82m; U.S.

Director: Silvia Leindecker & Michael Fox

Synopsis: This documentary explores two major developments in recent U.S. history. The first is the impact that the September 2008 financial crisis had on ordinary working people throughout the country. The second is the response of working people to the crises affecting them, including their reaction to the government’s bailouts and Obama’s election. Particular attention is devoted to the emergence of progressive grass-roots movements such as the Vermont Workers’ Center, the Green Worker Cooperative in the Bronx, the Santa Fe Alliance in New Mexico, and the Iraq Veterans Against the War. The film’s overall theme is that the recent economic collapse indicates that it is “the people” themselves who must organize and act to bring about greater economic and social justice. Discussion will follow the film, with comments by Occupy Pittsburgh participants and others.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Class, Documentary, Finance, Organizing, Unemployment-Wages

 

What Have The Unions Ever Done For Us? (2009)

13 Jun

2m; Australia

Director: Manic Studios

Synopsis: Riffing on the “What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?” skit from Monty Python’s Life of Brian this is a very funny skit where a bunch of business executives list off all the benefits unions have provided over the decades.

Contact: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=184NTV2CE_c

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Available Online, Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Comedy, Organizing, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo)

 

The Men Who Would Conquer China (2004)

20 Apr

58m; US
Directors: Nick Torrens and Jane St. Vincent Welch

For 4,000 years China largely succeeded, both culturally and economically, in keeping the rest of the world at bay. Following its introduction of reforms in the 1980’s, however, including a transition from a socialist to a market economy, China allowed multinational corporations to set up shop. Now that the world’s most populous nation is clearly on a fast track to capitalism, American investors are eagerly exploring ways to exploit China’s new ‘economic miracle.’

Icarus Films

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Big Business/Corporations, Documentary, Global Economy

 

The Gronholm Method (El Método) [2005]

20 Jan

115m; Spain, Argentina, Italy

Director: Marcelo Piñeyro

Cast: Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri and Eduard Fernández

Synopsis: Brilliant. A modern version of Rod Serling’s classic TV morality play “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” crossed with “Survivor,” white collar job applicants are put in a room and choose up sides and press their individual advantages.

 

 

Trailer

 
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Posted by on January 20, 2012 in A: Highly Recommended Labor Films, Big Business/Corporations, Drama, White Collar

 

Office Space (1999)

12 Jan

89m; US

Director: Mike Judge

Writers: Mike Judge (Milton animated shorts), Mike Judge (screenplay)

Cast: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston and David Herman

Synopsis (IMDB): In the Initech office, the insecure Peter Gibbons hates his job and the abusive Division VP Bill Lunbergh that has just hired two consultants to downsize the company. His best friends are the software engineers Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar that also hate Initech, and his next door neighbor Lawrence. His girlfriend Annie is cheating on him but she convinces Peter to visit the hypnotherapist Dr. Swanson. Peter tells how miserable his life is and Dr. Swanson hypnotizes him and he goes into a state of ecstasy. However, Dr. Swanson dies immediately after giving the hypnotic suggestion to Peter. He dates the waitress Joanna and changes his attitude in the company, being promoted by the consultants. When he discovers that Michael and Samir will be fired, they decide to plant a virus in the account system to embezzle fraction of cents in each financial operation into Peter’s account..

 

 
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Posted by on January 12, 2012 in A: Highly Recommended Labor Films, Big Business/Corporations, Comedy, Romance, Technology, White Collar

 

Work Hard, Play Hard (Violence des échanges en milieu tempéré) [2006]

04 Jan

99m; France

Director: Jean-Marc Moutout

Cast: Jérémie Renier, Laurent Lucas and Cylia Malki

Synopsis (IMDB): Philippe Seigner, a charming business school graduate from the French Pyrenees, starts his career in business consulting at the posh Paris seat of McGregor. His first serious task is a delicate one, an audit at the Janson food cans factory in the provinces, which is about to be taken over. As he soon realizes, this will mean sacking about 80 employees, as his boss Hugo Paradis knew from the start. However, his Paris girl friend reproaches him collaborating with ruthless capitalism, as if any of the downsizing could be stopped or mitigated by him bowing out. Nevertheless, as he gets to knew the threatened staff better he considers risking his career when his boss orders him to chose who should go. Meanwhile the factory staff starts realizing what’s about to happening

Contact: Antoine Sebire frenchcinemawashington@yahoo.com Audiovisual Affairs Embassy of France – La Maison Française 4101 Reservoir Road, NW Washington DC, 20007 Ph: 202.944.6287 Fax: 202.944.6043 http://www.la-maison-francaise.org

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2012 in A: Highly Recommended Labor Films, Big Business/Corporations, Drama, Manufacturing, Unemployment-Wages

 
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