Bread and Roses (2000)

Bread and Roses

The conflict between principle and practical reality is deftly explored by British director Loach in this affecting drama set in present-day Southern California, and features earthy performances by Brody and formidable newcomer Padilla. An intense, authentic depiction of our most vulnerable workers' struggle for a decent life, the film underscores the importance of taking a stand, however daunting. Shedding light on the desperate lives of people largely ignored in contemporary times, "Roses" is a tense, moving story about those still seeking--and being denied--the American Dream. July 18, 2007

One-dimensional fluff.

Bread and Roses (Ken Loach, 2001)

I'm honestly not sure how to approach this movie. I am a huge fan of the movie that comes directly before it in Loach's corpus, namely My Name is Joe, which made me a Peter Mullan fan for life. Bread and Roses, on the other hand, was--to put it mildly--a trial to get through, and much of what I've read makes me place the majority of the blame on Loach's shoulders; this could have been a fairly amusing comedy-drama with a compelling storyline, but instead comes off as a piece of propagandist trash aimed, if anything, at preaching to the choir; it's certainly not going to move anyone from the other side, even if they can see the validity in the arguments spouted here. The Motorcycle Diaries this is not.

The story concerns Maya (Pilar Padilla), a new, and illegal, immigrant to America, who lands a job with the Angel Cleaning Company, for which her sister works. Their boss, Perez (George Lopez), is, to put it mildly, a sexist, racist brute who likes nothing better than making his employees terrified of him. During her first day on the job, Maya encounters a fleeing Sam (The Pianist's Adrien Brody), being chased by her boss, his boss, and a security guard through the building; she, fond of neither Perez nor the security guard (with whom she had an altercation before getting the job), smuggles him to safety. The two form a tentative friendship, and she learns he's an activist who's fighting Angel, a non-union janitorial service little better than a sweatshop that happens to contract out. The rest of the movie deals with Maya and Sam's clashes with Angel.

There are a wealth of supporting characters who had the possibility to be interesting, but their stories are, for the most part, abandoned in Loach's quest to drive his message home. There are two avenues that are explored--Rosa's husband, Bert (Jack McGee), off work on disability because of his diabetes, and Juan (Eloy Mendez), who works as a janitor in order to save money for his law school tuition--but the pieces we see of their stories are there, as everything else, to drive the plot. When even your three-dimensional characters come off as two-dimensional, there's a problem. The others don't even merit the term "cardboard cutout." Which is a shame, as there's some talent within the ranks here, Lopez especially. The movie, however, is unconcerned.

Bread and Roses is the thinnest of veneers over boring political screed; even if you're of the same mindset as the film's writer and director, you'll have to overlook the film's glaring lack of characterization, threadbare plot, oddly cheap-looking film stock (though I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and assume a bad DVD transfer), episodic formulation, and glacial pace in order to get anything out of it. (half)
June 25, 2007

Bread And Roses--a film ever more relevant for our times!

Bread and Roses exposes the everyday life of poor Latin-Americans and their friends and family who are not living legally in this country. Many reviewers correctly point out that this movie highlights the brutal mistreatment of these human beings as if they were pieces of garbage or trash. The film also explores the high price of surviving in America for both legal and illegal immigrants. Bread And Roses accomplishes all this with a sensitivity that I rarely see in a motion picture; and it should be mandatory viewing for college and high school students so that they can better understand the complex issues regarding immigration that our country now faces.

Bread and Roses starts out with a fast paced action scene in which Maya, played so ably by Pilar Padilla, and other Mexicans are running across the US-Mexican border to get a better life for themselves. They want to be with their family members who have already come to America; and they also want jobs so that they can send money back to their starving families in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Maya, a rather street smart young lady, manages to escape the Mexican scoundrels who help her purely because they expect intimate favors from her. Maya takes a cab to her sister Rosa's house to live with her. Soon Rosa gets Maya a job in a cleaning company. Unfortunately, however, the cleaning company, supervised by a Hispanic himself, treats its employees with brutal intimidation and constant degradation.

The action speeds up even more when Maya and the other workers are encouraged to unionize by a labor activist Sam Shapiro, who is played by Adrien Brody. Initially the janitors hesitate to let Sam Shapiro lead them because they fear unemployment or deportation. With time, however, the janitors begin to realize they have the right as human beings to a living wage and at least a half-way decent lifestyle. Although Maya joins the people who want to unionize, she also does something else that is definitely not so honorable and the film gives us a bittersweet ending as a consequence.

The cinematography shines strong in the initial moments of this film when the people are running at breakneck speed to cross the border. I liked the views of Los Angeles; and the camera frames its subjects nicely. The scenes in which the camera pans upward toward the sky are breathtaking as well. The color is crisp and clear; and so is the sound.

The choreography displays much forethought. There are numerous scenes in which many actors on the set all have to do their own acting while surrounded by other performing actors; and they all manage to do this convincingly with great direction. The scenes in which the workers march are equally well done; and the party where Rosa's husband falls ill is very well choreographed.

The Latin-American characters speak in a mixture of English and Spanish; and this enhances the believability of this story. In fact, speaking in a mixture of Spanish and English is commonplace amongst lesser educated Hispanic people like the ones portrayed by the actors in this picture. They have not been to school long enough to learn each language fluently so they speak and understand parts of both languages. This reflects meticulous attention to detail--I love it!

I highly recommend this film for those of us who want to increase their understanding of what impoverished Hispanic persons have to endure in order to stay in this country both legally and illegally. Oftentimes they must do things they would ordinarily never do just to be able to send money back home so that the children can eat. What Rosa, Maya's sister, had to do to send money back home highlights the extremes people sometimes have to go to in order to keep their families well fed.

In sum, Bread and Roses reflects a sensitivity more people need to have toward the issues surrounding the controversial topic of Hispanic people flowing into America. Even if you don't agree with everything I wrote here; I hope that you will see this film to try to see where the other side "is coming from." Bread And Roses deserved much more credit than it ever received but it remains a brilliant film nonetheless.

See it!
February 11, 2007

Be wise, Unionize!

A very rare movie, in any nation. I've never seen one like this before. At the local video store, few customers rent it out, because it doesn't look like your typical fun puff-piece or thriller/chiller. Political movies usually do poorly. The actors are not incredibly sexy, don't have witty remarks, and the atmosphere isn't breathtakingly beautiful. As a matter of fact, the opposite is largely true. Even I, a political junkie to some extent, was reluctant to rent it out. One day, however, feeling more than usually virtuous, I decided to give this movie a try. The movie covers the labor struggle of illegal immigrant janitors in Los Angeles being paid $5.45 an hour with no benefits, no vacation, no lunch break, no rights and subject to sexual harassment and arbitrary abuse and firing. The struggle is marked by a romance between the union activist and a worker, and the bitter betrayal of one sister against another. Cheap labor from abroad is being used today in the United States and other developed countries to diminish and eliminate the gains made by unions in the 19th century. The answer, of course, is for unions to proliferate among the immigrants and among people in all nations, and for workers to unite world-wide regardless of nationality, race or religion. That is a monumental task to say the least; but consider the alternatives. The union organization depicted in the movie is called "Justice for Janitors," and their web site offers information about this great film at (...) The movie is a map for workers showing how to fight against exploitation by business. Be wise, Unionize!
August 9, 2005

Brody's Appeal Perks Up This NORMA RAE for Hispanic Janitors

Ken Loach's kitchen-sink drama about the hardships of illegal aliens under the thumb of exploitative employers is driven by excellent performances, particularly the three leads. Pilar Padilla and Elpidia Carillo give bravura portrayals of long-suffering Mexican sisters in L.A.; Maya (Padilla) is feisty and cunning, while her self-sacrificing older sister Rosa (Carillo) has grown resigned to her own and her family's lot in life. As Sam Shapiro, a labor activist who helps Maya and her fellow Hispanic janitors in a high-rise office building to form a union, Adrien Brody's blend of earnestness and mischief really livens up this well-meaning, often moving, occasionally didactic film. Brody's beard and bedhead make him look especially cuddly; no wonder the engaging Padilla eventually drags him into a closet for some hot and heavy nookie! :-) (My husband also remarked that all that hair made Brody's prominent proboscis look, well, less prominent -- not that Brody's noble nose ever bothered me, thank you very much! :-).
November 19, 2004

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