25m; U.S.
Director: Geri Ashur
Synopsis: Woman who was a white working class wife kicks her husband out. Now on welfare, she describes her new-found militancy.
Category Archives: Working Class
I Am Cuba (1964)
141m; U.S.S.R.-Cuba
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood and José Gallardo
Synopsis (IMDB): Four vignettes in Batista’s Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories. In Havana, Maria faces shame when a man who fancies her discovers how she earns her living. Pedro, an aging peasant, is summarily told that the land he farms has been sold to United Fruit. A university student faces down a crowd of swaggering U.S. sailors and then watches friends shot by police when they try to distribute a pro-Castro leaflet. The war arrives on the doorstep of peasants Mariano, Amelia, and their four children when Batista’s forces bomb the hills. Mariano wants peace, so he seeks out the guerrillas to join the fight. If nothing else, an incredible example of pure film-making with stunning and innovative camera work.
I Am Somebody (1970)
28m; U.S.
Director: Madeline Anderson
Synopsis: Striking black hospital workers, mostly women in Atlanta.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
92m; U.S.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell and Helen Vinson
Synopsis: Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
I Can Get It For You Wholesale (1951)
91m; U.S.
Director: Michael Gordon
Cast: Susan Hayward, Dan Dailey and George Sanders
Synopsis (IMDB): A ruthless fashion designer steps on everyone in her way in order to reach the top of her profession. Eventually she is forced to choose between her ambition and the man she loves.
I Really Hate My Job (2007)
90m; U.K.
Director: Olive Clark
Synopsis: The story of the lives of five waitresses stuck in a second rate London restaurant with delusions of grandeur. Customers come and go, unaware of the real concerns of these women; a rat or two in the kitchen, bitter arguments about life and art, as well as a coup d’état in the kitchen… all overshadowed by the anticipation of a booking by a famous Hollywood film star.
A bientôt j’espère: Be Seeing You (1968)
38m; Franc9
Director: Mario Marret and Chris Marker
Synopsis: From 1967 to 1976 Chris Marker was a member of SLON (the “Company for the Launching of New Works”). One of several groups that emerged in those years in which filmmakers, militants, and others came together on a cooperative, parallel basis, SLON was based on the idea that cinema should not be thought of solely in terms of commerce. 1967 was also the year an important strike broke out at Rhodiaceta, a textile plant owned by the Rhone-Poulenc trust in the city of Besançon, France. The strike was unusual in character because the workers refused to disassociate the industrial conflict from a social and cultural agenda. The workers’ demands concerned not only salary and job security, but also the very lifestyle imposed on them by society. So it was only natural that Chris Marker, along with other technicians and members of SLON, would visit Besançon to document the strike, and the lives and attitudes of the workers. The film’s most important moments are composed of conversations with workers and their wives. They believe the working class is increasingly at the mercy of a system that gives them no power, a system that would like them to remain powerless. And so it was that their local demands grew into questions about the larger political system. The strikers eventually returned to work with few gains, but had developed a sense of their power, which helped lay the groundwork for May ’68, when France was rocked by revolutionary protests.
Contact: http://icarusfilms.com/new2003/bien.html
I’m Alright Jack (1959)
105m; U.K.
Director: John Boulting
Cast: Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers
Synopsis: A naive aristocrat in search of a career becomes caught up in the struggles between his profit-minded uncle and an aggressive labour union.
ILLEGAL (Illégal) [2010]
95m; Belgium/Luxembourg/France
Director: Olivier Masset-Depasse
Synopsis: “[A] fascinating study of perseverance in the face of subhuman treatment.” –Boyd Van Hoeij, Variety. Tania (Anne Coesens), a Russian immigrant living illegally in Belgium, is willing to do whatever it takes to prevent her son and herself from being deported. When Tania’s illegal status is discovered, she is arrested and sent to a detention center, where she meets other illegals like herself, struggling to stay in their adopted homeland. Things soon spiral out of control when she claims a false name and finds herself in the middle of a complex deportation situation. Winner, Society of Dramatic Actors and Composers’ SACD Prize, 2010 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Igual Que Tu: A week in the life of an immigrant (2009)
Director: Ellie Walton
Synopsis: Documentary about hispanic day workers in DC.
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