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Skygazer

Skygazer

And in the end...
I haven't seen Bread & Roses, but I watched Land and Freedom (after you mentioned it in the What are you reading forum).
I think I would have enjoyed it much more if I hadn't read Homage to Catalonia.Orwell's great descriptions of the misery of cold, dirt,hunger inadequate equipment, long weeks of sheer boredom, punctuated by short bursts of terror, or the lethal political morass didn't come across for me, it felt oversimplfied, a good guys/bad guys story. But I liked the storyline and the flashbacks method between the granddaughter and David Carr in Spain and it was his story, not Orwell's, so I think I was too critical.
 
BukFan Brad

BukFan Brad

If Loach's film can be seen as a direct adaptation of Orwell's novel, then I would agree with your point about the simplification seen in the film but I think the film, itself, has drawn its narrative from other sources as well. I think the simplification came partly from the fact that Loach had a very limited budget in which to make the film and, had so many other different political perspectives been included, it may have watered down the viewpoint Loach wanted to get across of the conflict, ie. the Stalinist betrayal from the pov of the POUM. I enjoyed reading both Orwell's book and watching the film.

I'm not sure if you're worn out from reading about stuff on this conflict, but your response reminded me of yet another interesting book which contains eyewitness accounts that covered some of the political complexities you mentioned (including an account given by Jack Jones - which I think was another source for 'Land and Freedom'), which were published in the following and is well worth a read:

 
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Skygazer

Skygazer

And in the end...
BukFan Brad said:
[...I'm not sure if you're worn out from reading about stuff on this conflict:..]
Click to expand...
... Nope, I've had a nap and I'm feeling fine :wb:. But it might well bore the backside of others, so without further ado! just to say, yes I agree with you about budget constraints and thank you for the Jack Jones referral, I've just read and excerpt of that book online (somewhere) it was very good

.Stalin's treachery and sabotage in Spain is hard to beat - until Nixon's treachery and sabotage in Paris 1968... and the beat goes on. The ridiculous excuse on the grounds of doing it for a greater good - yes, their own.

PS Buckfan Brad Don't know if you know of the work of John McKenzie, the scottish director, he trained under Ken Loach and made some pretty wonderful films too (t,v and cinema. Just a Boys' Game and Just Another Saturday were fantastic, he also did A Sense of freedom and the classic The Long Good Friday.
 
Johannes

Johannes

Founding member
Some serious acting going on in this movie. Ending is classic, of course.

Spoiler alert, don't watch if you don't know it yet.

 
Johannes

Johannes

Founding member
I believe this one here was method acted out of personal experience when his buddy Richard Harris had stolen the last beer out of the fridge for the 1000th time.

 
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