“Do you think this motherf*%#ing country runs on talent?” So asks Clarence (Kene Holliday) toward the end of Craig Zobel’s wonderful independent feature, Great World of Sound. Clarence and his partner, Martin (Pat Healy), are “talent scouts” recruited by a shady record label to seek out new bands and singers hoping to be superstars and sell them phony recording deals. At first oblivious to the scam, Clarence and Martin soon realize that their fly-by-night employers are conning the salesmen as well as the musicians.
The documentaries and features showcased in the Dryden’s 18th Annual Rochester Labor Film Series, including Great World of Sound, answer Clarence’s explosive off-color query with a fairly definitive “no.” In spite of the widely held American dream of fame and fortune, these international selections suggest that the lifeblood of this country-and the world for that matter-consists of working-class men and women, individuals who are often unskilled and too frequently exploited. Some of these films focus on the stories of these workers, like migrant ranch hands in Tommy Lee Jones’ The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (September 21 & 23); department store clerks in Sam Wood’s classic comedy, The Devil and Miss Jones (screening September 28); illegal Palestinian immigrants who cross the border for Israeli construction jobs in 9 Star Hotel (October 19 & 21); or striking British miners and dockworkers in director Ken Loach’s Which Side Are You On? plus a documentary on Loach, Carry on Ken (both screening October 5).
Speaking of Ken Loach, the screen’s greatest champion of the working class will appear in person on October 10 as a special centerpiece event to this year’s series. Another hero is the legendary Harry Bridges, the outspoken and influential organizer who co-founded the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on the West Coast, played lovingly by Ian Ruskin in From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks. On October 12, Ruskin will also appear in person to introduce this filmed record of his much-heralded one-man show.
Along with these heroes, the working class have also had their martyrs, chief among them Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco. The Italian immigrants and anarchists who were executed in Boston in 1927 are the subjects of a powerful and informative new documentary, Sacco and Vanzetti, which will open the series on September 7.
White-collar work has its pitfalls too, as evidenced in The Method (September 14 & 16). This recent Spanish thriller shows us the nasty final selection process for a corporate position where the ideal candidate is one who can dish out and receive the most humiliation.
Acclaimed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Great World of Sound closes the series with its first area screenings on October 26 & 28. A unique blend of fiction and documentary techniques, the film will be presented in person (on October 26 only) by leading actor Pat Healy and co-writer/director Craig Zobel, a filmmaker, like the others represented in this series, with no shortage of talent.
