Bread and Roses (2000 film)

Bread and Roses
Bread and Roses
	DVD cover
Directed by	Ken Loach
Written by	Paul Laverty
Produced by	Rebecca O'Brien
Starring	Pilar Padilla; Adrien Brody; Elpidia Carrillo;
Cinematography	Barry Ackroyd
Edited by	Jonathan Morris
Music by	George Fenton
Production; company	see production
Distributed by	FilmFour Distributors (United Kingdom); Alta Films (Spain)
Release dates	10 May 2000 (CFF); 11 May 2001 (UK);
Running time	110 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom; Germany; Spain;
Languages	English; Spanish;
Box office	$533,479

Bread and Roses is a 2000 film directed by Ken Loach, starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody and Elpidia Carrillo. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize. It is based on the "Justice for Janitors" campaign of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU),^[1] and the lead union organizer, Sam Shapiro, is based on SEIU organizer Jono Shaffer.^[2]

The film is critical of inequalities in the United States. Health insurance in particular is highlighted and it is also stated in the film that the pay of cleaners and other low paying jobs has declined in recent years.

The film's name, "Bread and Roses", derives from the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Though the phrase comes from a 1911 poem by James Oppenheim (which was, in turn, based on a speech given by Rose Schneiderman), it is commonly associated with the Lawrence strike, which united dozens of immigrant communities, led to a large extent by women, under the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Plot

Maya, a recently arrived illegal immigrant in Los Angeles, is eager to build a new life away from her old one, where she briefly worked in a bar. She desires to work in a high-rise building as a janitor alongside her sister Rosa. Once employed, Maya discovers the stark disparity in wages and working conditions that the janitors, many of them immigrants, face daily.

Soon after starting her job, Maya encounters Sam, a janitor's union organizer. Sam's mission is to sign up workers in the building for the union, hoping to address their grievances. Maya is receptive to Sam's cause, seeing an opportunity for better wages and conditions. However, her sister Rosa is skeptical, fearful of losing their jobs amidst the push for unionization. They stage a protest at a house-warming party for a prominent Hollywood agency located in the same building they clean. The janitors' plight becomes a point of contention within the building and draws attention to the exploitation many of them face.

Cast

Pilar Padilla as Maya
Adrien Brody as Sam Shapiro
Elpidia Carrillo as Rosa
Jack McGee as Bert
Monica Rivas as Simona
Frank Davila as Luis
Lillian Hurst as Anna
Mayron Payes as Ben
Maria Orellana as Berta
Elena Antonenko as Maria
Olga Gorelik as Olga
George Lopez as Perez

Uncredited party guests

Production

The following companies produced the film:^[3]

British Screen
BSkyB
Cineart
Filmcooperative Zürich
Parallax Pictures
BiM Distribution
Alta Films
BAC Films
Road Movies Filmproduktion
Tornasol Films

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival^[4] and won the Jury Award at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival in 2000.

In 2001, it was nominated for the Artios award of the Casting Society of America, for the British Independent Film Awards for Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay, and won the Phoenix Prize at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

In 2002, it was nominated for four ALMA Awards, of which it won the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Elpidia Carrillo) and also won the Imagen Award for Best Theatrical Feature Film of the Imagen Foundation Awards.

References

^ Bread and Roses Foreword, SEIU President Andrew L. Stern
^ Selvin, Molly (3 June 2007). "A worker for janitors, guards". Los Angeles Times.
^ "Bred and Roses". Allrovi. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
^ "Festival de Cannes: Bread and Roses". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2009.

External links

The Bread-and-Roses-strike
Bread and Roses at IMDb
Bread and Roses at Box Office Mojo
Bread and Roses at Rotten Tomatoes
Bread and Roses at the BFI's Screenonline

[1] Bread and Roses Foreword, SEIU President Andrew L. Stern

[2] Selvin, Molly (3 June 2007). "A worker for janitors, guards". Los Angeles Times.

[3] "Bred and Roses". Allrovi. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2011.

[festival-cannes.com-4] "Festival de Cannes: Bread and Roses". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2009.

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v t e Works directed by Ken Loach
Television	Up the Junction (1965) The End of Arthur's Marriage (1965) Cathy Come Home (1966) In Two Minds (1967) The Big Flame (1969) The Rank and File (1971) Days of Hope (1975) The Price of Coal (1977) The Gamekeeper (1980) A Question of Leadership (1981) Which Side Are You On? (1985)
Feature films	Poor Cow (1967) Kes (1969) Family Life (1971) Black Jack (1979) Looks and Smiles (1981) Fatherland (1986) Hidden Agenda (1990) Riff-Raff (1991) Raining Stones (1993) Ladybird, Ladybird (1994) Land and Freedom (1995) Carla's Song (1996) My Name Is Joe (1998) Bread and Roses (2000) The Navigators (2001) Sweet Sixteen (2002) Ae Fond Kiss... (2004) Tickets (2005) The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) It's a Free World... (2007) Looking for Eric (2009) Route Irish (2010) The Angels' Share (2012) Jimmy's Hall (2014) I, Daniel Blake (2016) Sorry We Missed You (2019) The Old Oak (2023)
Documentaries	The Save the Children Fund Film (1971) A Contemporary Case for Common Ownership (1995) The Flickering Flame (1997) McLibel (1997) The Spirit of '45 (2013)