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Category Archives: Themes

Viva Zapata! (1952)

113m; U.S.

Director: Elia Kazan

Cast: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters and Anthony Quinn

Synopsis (IMDB): In 1909, Emiliano Zapata, a well-born but penniless Mexican Indian from a remote province, Morelos, comes to Mexico City to complain that their arable land has been enclosed, leaving them only in the barren hills. His expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the President Diaz puts him in danger, and when he rashly rescues a prisoner from the local militia he becomes an outlaw. Urged on by a strolling intellectual, Fernando, he supports the exiled Don Francisco Madero against Diaz, and becomes the leader of his forces in the South as Pancho Villa is in the North. Diaz flees, and Madero takes his place; but he is a puppet president, in the hands of the leader of the army, Huerta, who has him assassinated when he tries to express solidarity for the men who fought for him. Zapata and Villa return to arms, and, successful in victory, seek to find a leader for the country. Unwillingly, Zapata takes the job.

 

West Virginia Authors: Kenneth Fones-Wolf (2007)

30m; U.S.

Synopsis: Host Gordon Simmons interviews WVU professor Kenneth Fones-Wolf about his new book, “Glass Towns – Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s” ( University of Illinois Press).

Contact: Host Gordon Simmons interviews WVU professor Kenneth Fones-Wolf about his new book, “Glass Towns – Industry, Labor, and Political Economy in Appalachia, 1890-1930s” ( University of Illinois Press)

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History

 

Widen Film Project (2008)

55m; U.S.

Director: Kelley Thompson

Synopsis: Life in Widen, WV, the famous company town built by J.G. Bradley who was a national and state coal mining leader. Includes the 1952 U.M.W.A. strike.

Contact: Kelley Thompson, killer64@suddenlink.net, 304-344-1990 (home)

 

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Wage Slaves: Not Getting By in America (2002)

Director: Richard Ross

Looks at five people working in low-wage jobs in Nevada, Alabama, California, and Florida. Includes interviews with these workers, as well as with Barbara Ehrenreich, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, economics professor Donald Boudreaux, and author Walter Williams, among others.

 

Waging A Living

U.S.
Directed by Roger Weisberg, USA, 2005 (85 minutes)
http://www.pbs.org/pov/wagingaliving/film_description.php

Synopsis: Minimum wage workers struggle to make ends meet.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Working Class

 

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Wal-Mar Nation (2007)

61m; Canada

Director: Andrew Munger

 

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005)

95m; U.S.

Director: Robert Greenwald

Synopsis: A look at the impact of the retail giant on local communities.

 

Wall Street (1987)

124m; U.S.

Director: Oliver Stone

Cast: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Hal Holbrook

Synopsis (IMDB): Bud Fox is a Wall Street stockbroker in early 1980’s New York with a strong desire to get to the top. Working for his firm during the day, he spends his spare time working an on angle with the high-powered, extremely successful (but ruthless and greedy) broker Gordon Gekko. Fox finally meets with Gekko, who takes the youth under his wing and explains his philosophy that “Greed is Good”. Taking the advice and working closely with Gekko, Fox soon finds himself swept into a world of “yuppies”, shady business deals, the “good life”, fast money, and fast women; something which is at odds with his family including his estranged father (a good union man) and the blue-collared way Fox was brought up.

 

Washington Area Women in the Trades Video (2007)

10m; U.S.

Synopsis: Short doc profiles the WAWIT program with interviews with participants, CSA Exec. Director Kathleen McKirchy, and more

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Women

 

The Way We Laughed (Così ridevano) [1998]

124m; Italy

Director: Gianni Amelio

Cast: Francesco Giuffrida, Enrico Lo Verso and Rosaria Danzè

Synopsis (IMDB): Turin at the end of the fifties: two brothers have emigrated there from Sicily and the older works very hard to let the younger study and free himself from poverty through culture. The boy however is not keen on school and would like to begin to work. When after some time he gets his degree however things take a violent and dramatic turn