If you were...

Here is a question from a friend:

If you were organising a Labour Movement Film Festival, what films would you show, and why?

I've got some ideas, but I'll see what you say first. 

Comments

jnseward said…
On the Waterfront.
Flesh said…
Blue Collar. Though maybe not for the first film of the festival, cos it's not terribly inspiring...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Collar_%28film%29
Flesh said…
"The Life And Times Of Rosie The Riveter" (1980)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Times_of_Rosie_the_Riveter
newcentrist said…
Harlan County, USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_County,_USA
Unknown said…
Salt of the Earth

10,000 Black Men Named George
Anonymous said…
Matewan by John Sayles...because it's one of the finest films made and it deals with many issues that still resonate today.
Jim Denham said…
I'm All Right Jack:

1/ For sheer entertainment value (probably welcome on this course);

2/ To demonstrate the strengths and limitations of traditional UK trade unionism (eg the suggestion of racism at one point);

3/ To make the point that comedy is a much more effective weapon than melodrama- ie: it was generally considered on the left that 'I'm All Right Jack' was a much more dangerous film than 'On The Waterfront.'

The Brit melodrama, 'The Angry Silence' was another anti-union film from the same period, and -again - is considered pretty effective, but not as effective as I'm All Right Jack."
Adhesif said…
''Drop Dead Fred'' 1991

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_Dead_Fred
"The Full Monty" for its humorous, unsentimental, and sharp look at working class dudes with a singular sense of entrepreneurship.
Ken said…
Battleship Potempkin maybe, which was not allowed to be shown outside of film clubs until the 1950's.
Battle for Algiers, if only for the para colonel explaining why the methods used are determined by a 'yes' to the question "Should Algeria remain French?" In reality, the actor who played him was jailed for refusing to be drafted. Perhaps pair with Hunger! Or The WindThat Shakes the Barley. One of my favourite Sean Connery films is The Hill, about a punishment battalion in N Africa during WW2.
bob said…
Some great suggestions.

I'd recommend two Ken Loach films: the funny and lovely Riff Raff, about the construction industry (I think it was Ricky Tomlinson's first acting gig after he was written out of Brookside, and Bread and Roses, about the Justice for Janitors campaign and very relevant to today's 3Cosas movement in the UK.

I'd also recommend Jeremy Deller's extraordinary Battle of Orgreave recreation film, especially as its now the 30th anniversary of the Miners' Strike and June will see the 30th anniversary of the battle.

Finally, I'd suggest 9 to 5, the greatest ever anarchist-communist-feminist mainstream comedy of the 1970s or 1980s, starring two of the most underrated women performers ever, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin.
wawan said…
Robin Hood!

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