Screening

About Bread and Roses

Rating:

R R

Year Released:

2000

Genres:

Drama

Metadata:

Directed by Ken Loach

Starring Adrien Brody (The Pianist) as a union organizer and Pilar Padilla as an undocumented worker, Bread and Roses brings Loach’s customary sympathetic portrayal of working people to the story of the immigrants who clean the office towers of Los Angeles. Loach’s gritty, amusing, and spirited fictional film documents the real life organizing drive of “Justice for Janitors,” a key moment in the rebirth of American unions among service workers and the newest generation of immigrants. (35mm presentation)

Filming Work / Working Films
Since the birth of the medium, filmmakers have made the struggles of ordinary people for workplace justice a central theme in the cinema. From the early films of Eisenstein to the contemporary work of John Sayles and Ken Loach, work and workers have captured the visual imagination of moviegoers. These films offer historical and contemporary depictions of struggles among the working class. The series is sponsored by Bloomington Jobs with Justice, IU Labor Studies Program, Latino Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Cultural Studies Program, Black Film Center/Archive, Department of History, and IU Cinema. Special thanks to Alex Lichtenstein, Associate Professor, Department of History.