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Category Archives: Working Class

Maids and Bosses (Empleadas y Patrones) [2010]

20 Apr

64m; 

Director: Abner Benaim

Synopsis: A revealing look into the lives of wealthy Panamanians and those they employ, this visually creative documentary explores the class divide in Latin America from both sides. Disheartened maids tell harsh stories of devilish children, ridiculously long hours and unfounded accusations of theft. Snobbish bosses complain about incorrect formal table settings, maids taking maternity leave and even the use of black magic. However, both sides attest that genuine affection can grow after working closely for so many years. Official Selection, 2011 HotDocs Film Festival.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Service Workers, Women, Working Class

 

Monogah Heroine (2007)

20 Apr

25m; U.S.

Director: Gina Martino Dahlia

Synopsis: The film focuses on the widows left behind from the December 6, 1907 Monongah mine disaster, still dubbed the worst disaster in American history.

Contact: WVU School of Journalism – gmartino@mix.wvu.edu , 304-293-3505 ext. 5407

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Safety & Health, Women, Working Class

 

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Mac (1992)

20 Apr

117m; U.S.

Director: John Tuturro

Cast: John Turturro, Michael Badalucco and Carl Capotorto

Synopsis (IMDB): Niccolo (Mac) Vitelli is the eldest of three brothers and leads their family after their beloved father dies. Their father was a builder and his sons continue in this family trade. At first, they work for Polowski, who does shoddy work and cheats on his jobs. When the brothers can no longer take being employed by such an angry vitriolic boss who takes no pride in his work, they set up their own company. Together, Vitelli Brothers Construction builds houses with pride and care. However, Mac turns out to be an overbearing workaholic, with obsessive concern about the quality of their work and incredible attention to detail. His intensity and driven ambition precludes a happy family life and eventually drives away his two happy-go-lucky brothers from his nascent construction empire

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Construction Trades, Drama, Working Class

 

Macario (1960)

20 Apr

91m; Mexico

Director: Roberto Gavaldón

Cast: Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer and Enrique Lucero

Synopsis (IMDB): Poor, hungry peasant Macario longs for just one good meal on the Day of the Dead. After his wife cooks a turkey for him, he meets three apparitions, the Devil, God, and Death. Each asks him to share his turkey, but he refuses all except Death. In return, Death gives him a bottle of water which will heal any illness. Soon, Macario is more wealthy than the village doctor, which draws the attention of the feared Inquisition.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Farm & Food, Working Class

 

Machuca (2004)

20 Apr

121m; Chile

Director: Andrés Wood

Cast: Matías Quer, Ariel Mateluna and Manuela Martelli

Synopsis (IMDB): A wonderful coming-of-age film set in Santiago, Chile during the last year of Salvador Allende’s democratic socialist government and the first years of the Augusto Pinochet regime.  The film follows two boys, one Pedro Machuca from the city’s poor slums and the other, Gonzalo Infante, from an upper-class family.  The two meet when a new government program starts placing children from poorer communities in more affluent schools and the two start to bond.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Children, Drama, Labor History, Politics, Working Class

 

Made in Dagenham (2010)

20 Apr

113m; U.K.

Director: Nigel Cole

Cast: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins and Andrea Riseborough

Synopsis: A dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Comedy, Drama, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Women, Working Class

 

Made in LA (2007)

20 Apr

70m; U.S.
Director: Almudena Carracedo
http://www.madeinla.com/

Synopsis (IMDB): Made in L.A. follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a mega-trendy clothing retailer. In intimate verité style, Made in L.A. reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman’s life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. Compelling, humorous, deeply human, Made in L.A. is a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Organizing, Women, Working Class

 

Maid In America (2005)

20 Apr

60m; U.S.
Director: Anayansi Prado
http://impactofilms.com/maidinamerica/updates.html

Synopsis: The lives and hopes of immigrant workers.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Service Workers, Women, Working Class

 

Maids (Domésticas) [2001]

20 Apr

85m; Brazil

Director: Fernando Meirelles, Nando Olival

Cast: Cláudia Missura, Graziela Moretto and Lena Roque

Synopsis (IMDB): Five maids in São Paulo are observed in this episodic, impressionistic film. The women interact with each other, ride busses, work, and have longings: Rai for a husband, Créo for her lost daughter, Roxane for a career in modeling. Quitéria is naive, a gull for thieves. Cida has a husband and also a lover. While each woman gets what she wishes for (more or less), it doesn’t always make things better. As Roxane says, no child sets out to become a maid. But once there, are all other doors closed?

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Service Workers, Women, Working Class

 

Man of Marble (1977)

20 Apr

165m

Director: Andrzej Wajda

Cast: Krystyna Janda, Jerzy Radziwilowicz and Tadeusz Lomnicki

Synopsis (IMDB): In 1976, a young woman in Krakow is making her diploma film, looking behind the scenes at the life of a 1950s bricklayer, Birkut, who was briefly a proletariat hero, at how that heroism was created, and what became of him. She gets hold of outtakes and censored footage and interviews the man’s friends, ex-wife, and the filmmaker who made him a hero. A portrait of Birkut emerges: he believed in the workers’ revolution, in building housing for all, and his very virtues were his undoing. Her hard-driving style and the content of the film unnerve her supervisor, who kills the project with the excuse she’s over budget. Is there any way she can push the film to completion?

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Construction Trades, Drama, Politics, Working Class

 
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