Bread and Roses (2000) is a UK/European film set in Los Angeles. The movie was directed by Ken Loach.
The film is a semi-documentary about the Los Angeles Justice for Janitors campaign that begin in 1990. The movie captures the techniques used by the janitors and union organizers to bring economic justice to janitors who were overworked and underpaid. The janitors learned that simple peaceful picketing didn't work. Using the techniques of the United Farm Workers and Saul Alinsky, they had to make themselves annoying and unpleasant to the cleaning companies and to the companies that had contracts with them.
The movie also contains a romance between union organizer Sam (Adrien Brody) and Mexican immigrant Maya (Pilar Padilla). Both are wonderful actors. Brody is a true star. This was Padilla's first film, but she is a strong and forceful presence on the screen. (Yes--also very beautiful.)
Ken Loach is a brilliant director. I've seen many of his films, and I've never been disappointed. We saw this movie on DVD, where it worked well. Bread and Roses has a fairly good IMDb rating of 7.1. I think it's better than that, and I highly recommend it.
The film is a semi-documentary about the Los Angeles Justice for Janitors campaign that begin in 1990. The movie captures the techniques used by the janitors and union organizers to bring economic justice to janitors who were overworked and underpaid. The janitors learned that simple peaceful picketing didn't work. Using the techniques of the United Farm Workers and Saul Alinsky, they had to make themselves annoying and unpleasant to the cleaning companies and to the companies that had contracts with them.
The movie also contains a romance between union organizer Sam (Adrien Brody) and Mexican immigrant Maya (Pilar Padilla). Both are wonderful actors. Brody is a true star. This was Padilla's first film, but she is a strong and forceful presence on the screen. (Yes--also very beautiful.)
Ken Loach is a brilliant director. I've seen many of his films, and I've never been disappointed. We saw this movie on DVD, where it worked well. Bread and Roses has a fairly good IMDb rating of 7.1. I think it's better than that, and I highly recommend it.