Bread and Roses (2000)

Two Latina sisters work as cleaners in a downtown office building, and fight for the right to unionize.

Director:

Ken Loach

Writer:

Paul Laverty (screenplay)

Stars:

Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia Carrillo

5 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pilar Padilla	...	Maya
Adrien Brody	...	Sam Shapiro
Elpidia Carrillo	...	Rosa
Jack McGee	...	Bert
Monica Rivas	...	Simona
Frankie Davila	...	Luis (as Frank Davila)
Lillian Hurst	...	Anna
Mayron Payes	...	Ben
Maria Orellana	...	Berta
Melody Garrett	...	Cynthia
Gigi Jackman	...	Dolores
Beverly Reynolds	...	Ella
Eloy Méndez	...	Juan (as Eloy Mendez)
Elena Antonenko	...	Maria
Olga Gorelik	...	Olga

Storyline

Maya is a quick-witted young woman who comes over the Mexican border without papers and makes her way to the LA home of her older sister Rosa. Rosa gets Maya a job as a janitor: a non-union janitorial service has the contract, the foul-mouthed supervisor can fire workers on a whim, and the service-workers' union has assigned organizer Sam Shapiro to bring its "justice for janitors" campaign to the building. Sam finds Maya a willing listener, she's also attracted to him. Rosa resists, she has an ailing husband to consider. The workers try for public support; management intimidates workers to divide and conquer. Rosa and Maya as well as workers and management may be set to collide.

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Plot Keywords:

three word title | janitor | justice | rose | union | 

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Taglines:

The Balance Of Power Is About To Change.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Channel Four Television [UK]

Country:

UK France Germany Spain Italy Switzerland

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

25 October 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

Bread & Roses

Filming Locations:

Doheny Library - 3550 Trousdale Parkway, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$49,662, 13 May 2001

Gross USA:

$533,479

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$706,876

Company Credits

Production Co:

Parallax Pictures, ARTE, Alta Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both Adrien Brody & Elpidia Carrillo both appeared in the Predator franchise. Carrillo was in Predator (1987) while Brody worked on Predators (2010).

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Quotes

Sam: We want bread. But we want roses too.

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Connections

Referenced in S.P.U.N.G: Bara man vill så går det (2002)

User Reviews

under the expectations

Same typical themes handled in Loach's work. I felt something strange, while watching it, maybe the San Diegan locations might be strange to the fans used to seeing English and Scottish cities. Nevertheless I couldn't say the effort of observation and insight doesn't work; the young Mexican gal propelled by the American dream is very believable, the unknown cast acts with passion, expressing the various faces of injustice and biases migrants must endure. However, my final opinion on the movie is that it fails to illustrate the real situations these kind of people live in and their genuine feelings, that is the Ken Loach's peculiarity.