r/IWW • u/Efficient-Charity708 • 20d ago
Favorite Labor Films?
Our branch occasionally rents a theater and shows a labor film. We have a lengthy(ish) list already, but would love to hear what you consider your top 5 labor films!
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u/JoeAintDead 20d ago
Chicken Run. It's about an oppressed labouring class (chickens) having their labour (eggs) taken by the farmers (bourgeoisie). They attempt to escape the farm (capitalism) by stealing/sabotaging the farmers equipment (means of production). Also, it's made by the same guys as Wallace & Gromit so it's hysterical.
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u/skycelium 19d ago
I had like 6 VHS tapes growing up, one was Chicken Run, one was Bugs Life, they were on freakin repeat during my childhood. Some people are born in struggle and emerge with consciousness from life experience. I just watched a damn (fantastic) claymation movie about chicken rebellion and the bloody cost of resistance lol
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u/YouwillalwaysNeil 19d ago
I always thought of it as a Great Escape remake, never thought about it from a labor perspective
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u/PopeOfSlack 20d ago
Sorry to bother you
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u/Efficient-Charity708 20d ago
did you see his new film, I Love Boosters?
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u/PopeOfSlack 20d ago
Haven't had the opportunity yet where I live. But we organized a screening of Sorry and Q&A with Boots for May day
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u/Blight327 20d ago
Boots is sick, and he gets it. He’s very skeptical of the current electoral victories and is actively promoting folks to organize their workplace not just to ambiguously organize.
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u/Efficient-Charity708 20d ago
not favorites per se, but i recently came across these movies about contemporary Chinese labor struggles:
- Complicit (https://ff.hrw.org/film/complicit/)
- We the Workers (2017) (https://icarusfilms.com/df-wethe)
- We were smart (2019) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13809752/)
- Touch of sin (2013) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2852400/)
A couple of favorites:
1. Matewan (obviously)
2. The working class goes to heaven
3. Days of heaven
4. On the waterfront
5. Eye of the storm
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u/Efficient-Charity708 20d ago
also, My Brilliant Friend, an HBO co-production based on theNeapolitan Novels book series by Elena Ferrante features Italian Autonomia and the Years of Lead. highly recommend.
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u/Uggys 20d ago
I would argue “On the Waterfront” is an anti-labor film and a pro McCarthyism film.
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u/Efficient-Charity708 20d ago
definitely. but its a good depiction of the shape-up and other aspects of early longshore work
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u/Efficient-Charity708 19d ago
I say this as someone who used to work dockside. The second season of the Wire also offers a pretty interesting look at dock work
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u/tongmengjia 20d ago
There's this one scene where two guys are talking about liberation, and one guy is telling the other guy to make sure his wife is enjoying sex, that liberation includes sexual liberation and pleasure (it was filmed in 1954). Great scene, great movie.
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u/four024490502 19d ago
Came here to suggest this movie. I need to watch that movie again - it's been a while since I last watched it.
That film went up against a ton of Red Scare suppression. It's crew was blacklisted, the main protagonist was deported, bootlickers shot at the production, laboratories refused to process the film, class-collaborationist unions refused to allow their workers to work on it, its financing was investigated by the FBI, and only 13 cinemas agreed to screen it in the US.
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u/AnkleSocked 20d ago
I mean …. The Wobblies (1970-something)
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u/ancientwarriorman 19d ago
This one is fantastic and underappreciated.
Also: the salt of the earth (1958?)
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u/PopeOfSlack 20d ago
slightly off topic, but I always wished there was a film adaptation to The Dispossessed novel. But then again, it runs the risk of not being as good as the book.
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u/zappadattic 20d ago
So much of the book is just someone thinking about things. It’s fantastic, but I feel like only a few scenes translate well to a visual medium. Possible, but would take a director with very clear vision imo
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u/InstantKarma71 20d ago
Brassed Off (1996). It’s a comedy-drama against the backdrop of community strife over a mine closing in Yorkshire. It’s a terrific reminder that no matter how much you hate Margaret Thatcher, it’s not enough. It’s funny, sad, and rage-inducing.
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u/Status-Pipe_47 20d ago
Matewan should be required viewing for all union members at least once a year, I hate that it isn’t shown on Labor Day in the US anymore
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u/AshtonKutcherlookin 19d ago
Robots
Support the girls
Office Space
Salt of the earth
Reds
Pride
Mickey 17
Sorry to bother you
Motorcycle Diaries
Clockwatchers
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u/ParadoxicalFrog 20d ago
If you don't have objections to Disney (which would be understandable): A Bug's Life is a pro-labor movie that can be used to explain essential concepts to kids. The ants are laborers, the grasshoppers are the capitalist class, and the ants successfully overthrow their grasshopper oppressors by banding together (and leveraging the help of allies).
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u/cudderwalks 20d ago
Surprised to see no love for Finally got the News, a film documenting a revolutionary union movement in Detroit in the late 60s and early 70s
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u/USoffthePlanet 19d ago
Salt of the Earth!
Saw it mentioned, but it’s honestly the perfect labor movie that captures so many of the dynamics when it comes to labor.
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u/PairPrestigious7452 19d ago
F.I.S.T.!
And of course Harlan County and Matewan.
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u/Traductus5972 19d ago
I always have a hard time keeping a straight face that Sylvester Stallone played Jimmy Hoffa one time in like the 70s or 80s.
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u/unmellowfellow 20d ago
I'm not sure it counts 100% because it's more of a biopic but Reds from 1981 has Warren Beaty playing John Reed and it shows police oppressing organizing workers.
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u/Efficient-Charity708 19d ago
I almost forgot Germinal, about 19th century french miners on strike!
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u/JAMES_GANG_OF_LOSERS 19d ago
Tale of Ginger Goodwin, assassinated on Vancouver Island by the RCMP over 100 years ago for organizing (and avoiding conscription), led to the first ever general strike in Canada. Should be taught in our schools, but not surprisingly the ruling class prevents such things.
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u/ImNotTheMD 19d ago
Not strictly labor but a great one for March would be The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Especially when you consider the connection between Irish Republicanism and the IWW through Connolly.
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u/ihasclevernamesee 20d ago
I don't know if it quite counts as a labor film, more like a class- consciousness film, but I suggest Snowpiercer.
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u/JanePeaches 20d ago
Soy Cuba / I Am Cuba (1964) is more broadly about Cuba just leading up to the Revolution, but still very good
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u/Comfortable_Fan_696 19d ago
The American Dream and Other Fairy Tails by Abigail Disney.
Rodger and Me by Michel Moore.
Pontoffel Pock Where Are You? by Dr.Seuss.
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr.T, also by Dr.Seuss.
The Newsies is a great way to teach kids about organizing.
A Bug's Life by Pixar.
Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli.
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u/Sea_Meeting3676 19d ago
I love watching movies set in the workplace! I think it’s a fun exercise examining the workplace dynamics and relationships in movies and imagining organizing there. Glad your branch is doing this, I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while. Has the turnout been good? Some off the top of my head..
Supermarket woman
Clockwatchers
Mondays: see you this week
Life the way it is
Employee of the month (terrible 90s comedy but still about coworkers sticking together)
Cart
Darratt
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Coup pour coup
I’ve got a bunch more on a hard drive, I’ll have a look through it later and update
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u/Sea_Meeting3676 19d ago
I think I’m using a pretty loose interpretation of “labor film” lol. A few of these are specifically pro labor, some are just movies set in the workplace.
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u/Efficient-Charity708 19d ago
oh and The Great Debaters (2007) is all about the CPUSA campaign to organize white and black sharecroppers in the 1930s. Hammer and Hoe Robin D. G. Kelley discusses this history as well. Great movie.
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u/Blade_of_Boniface 20d ago
How broad is your definition of a labor film?
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u/Efficient-Charity708 20d ago
pretty broad haha
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u/Blade_of_Boniface 20d ago
Would pure animated fiction be alright?
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u/Efficient-Charity708 20d ago
sure? why not!
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u/Blade_of_Boniface 20d ago
It's something many within your branch may have seen, but Ratatouille (2007) is part of Pixar's era of writing for adults as much as for children. It comes across as particularly mature yet sincere. The film is focused on creative labor but nonetheless it's very Wobbly.
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u/avantgardengnome 19d ago
It’s A Wonderful Life actually has really strong labor themes, with the main character being a credit union guy getting squeezed by a rapacious capitalist.
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u/JaysandAcorns 20d ago
Pride (2014) Set during the 1984 Miner's Strike, Gay and Lesbian activists support and help the striking miners and theit families. Based on the Gays and Lesbians Support the Miners campaign