Review of Bread and Roses (2000) by Mike C — 20 Oct 2012

Damn pinkos. How dare anyone in America expect due compensation for work provided? Let alone...immigrants? Of course, I jest. Few things depress me as much as labor talks. The labor situation in this country is a joke, but if you even mention possible solutions in this part of the country, well...

A pro-union movie is not automatically good. Usually, it's quite the contrary as it seems they are more independent productions than anything else. This movie is no different. Adrien Brody has some star power, and you might recognize a few people throughout, but Brody allegedly took the role without even seeing a script. So it's not like it is a great piece of art and people just signed up.

The workers have a legitimate grip. Lopez is more or less horrible playing the boss of a cleaning agency. By that, I mean the acting is horrible, but I don't doubt bosses like that exist. (You know, I did work for quite a tyrant while at Dillons...don't shop there). The movement to organized labor is a little silly. Brody comes in and by movie's end, well damn, they are going to get treated like humans. Rarely does this happen. Steinbeck wrote of the labor struggles as they happened, without the optimism one might have today. For that reason, his stories are much more credible, maddening, and realistic.

Finally, for as low budget at this is, two things struck me: one, a scene between Brody and his tie-wearing supervisor. I've long made this point: you don't have to look a part to play it. I'd rather have that tie-wearing dude, who was probably pretty much on the same page as Brody, fighting for me than the more disheveled Brody character. And two: I have little sympathy for the sister who sells her body over and over to help her loved ones. It makes her hate the world. Well, goddammit, quit submitting to it. Did selling her body every really help? That's arguable. As long as someone can get away with that, no one is helped. It changes the system for the rest of us who aren't willing to sell ourselves so easily. So that scene bothered me 1. because real people do endure situations like that and it is tragic and 2. because I don't like them for it. And then I feel guilty.