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Category Archives: Themes

Fury (1936)

92m; U.S.

Director: Fritz Lang

Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy and Walter Abel

Synopsis: When a prisoner barely survives a lynch mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to frame the mob for his murder.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Working Class

 

Fury Below (1936)

58m; U.S.

Director: Harry L. Fraser

Cast: Russell Gleason, Maxine Doyle and LeRoy Mason

Synopsis (IMDB): Jim Cole, heir to a mining operation, takes over the mine, which is suffering from unexplained low production, and is facing a strike by the miners. Jim will soon loose the mine if production doesn’t increase and the sabotage continues. Mary Norsen, office-secretary, accidentally learns of a plot by Fred Johnson to wreck the mine and force Cole to sell his coal-mine. She and her brother, Joe, join Cole in his fight to stop Johnson

 
 

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Gaijin: A Brazilian Odyssey (1980)

112m

Director: Tizuka Yamasaki

Cast: Kyoko TsukamotoAntônio Fagundes and Jiro Kawarazaki

Synopsis (IMDB): Based on fact, this is the story of the struggles of Japanese immigrants who traveled to and settled in Brazil looking for a better life.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Immigrants/Immigration

 

Grounding: The Last Days of Swissair (2006)

120m; Switzerland

Director: Michael Steiner

Cast: Hanspeter MüllerGilles Tschudi and László I. Kish

Synopsis (IMDB): The demise of airline Swissair in 2001 was a huge blow to Switzerland’s economy and to the country’s morale. It was a sad day for Swiss history when the airline’s fleet was grounded on 2 October 2001. “Grounding” is set during the last days of the doomed airline, and tells the story of manager Mario A. Corti’s unhappy fate, the last, unlucky CEO at the traditional airline company, as well as of all those nameless people who lost almost everything in the maelstrom of Swissair’s downfall: their job, home and their belief in Switzerland

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Transportation, Working Class

 

Garbage Dreams (2009)

79m

Director: Mai Iskander

Synopsis (Documentary.org): Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen–Arabic for “garbage people.” Far ahead of any modern “Green” initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.

Website: http://www.garbagedreams.com/

 
 

The Garment Jungle (1957)

88m; U.S.

Director: Vincent Sherman

Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Kerwin Mathews and Gia Scala

Synopsis: Sweatshop workers.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Women, Working Class

 

Germinal (1993)

166m; France

Director: Claude Berri

Cast: Renaud, Gérard Depardieu and Miou-Miou

Synopsis: Gerard Depardieu plays the role of Toussaint Maheu from the film version of Emile Zola’s landmark book by the same name. He attempts to organize the coal miners to resist exploitation by the owners. The novel was one of the first to properly, using the finest art and understanding, to show the lives of working men and women. The film version was not shown widely, perhaps due to its theme and its length. John Sayles film “Matewan” is not based on this novel/film, but has many similarities. There were earlier versions including a British mini-series in 1970, and films in 1963, and 1913.

 

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Gervaise (1956)

112m; France

Director: René Clément

Cast: Maria Schell, François Périer and Jany Holt

Synopsis: Story of a scrubwoman’s struggle to climb out of poverty and how she sinks back in. Based on the Emile Zola novel.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Service Workers, Women, Working Class

 

The Ghosts Of Duffy’s Cut

52m; Ireland

Director: Stephen Rooke & Ruan Magan

Synopsis: The story of indentured Irish workers from Duffy, Ireland, who were brought to the United States in April 1832 to build one of the earliest stretches of railroad in Pennsylvania.

Contact: http://www.tilefilms.ie/ info@tilefilms.ie Rachel Towell, Producer: rachel@tilefilms.ie

 

 

Gigante (2009)

84m; Uruguay

Director: Adrián Biniez

Cast: Horacio Camandule, Leonor Svarcas and Ignacio Alcuri

Synopsis: A chronicle of a supermarket security guard’s obsession with a late-shift janitor.