FILM REVIEW: THE HAND THAT FEEDS By: Faiz No comments

A scene from The Hand That Feeds. Photo Credit: Jed Brandt.

Not keeping mum about mini wages

By John Esther

Winner of numerous film festival awards, co-directors Robin Blotnick and Rachel Lears' documentary, The Hand That Feeds, is a fast and furious look into the plight of the working poor.

Earning less than minimum wage in New York City, undocumented workers at the Hot and Crusty bakery can work up to sixty hours a week and still make less than $300. There is no overtime pay, paid vacation time or sick leave. They are paid in cash. Of course, undocumented workers are reluctant to complain less they garner attention from authorities. Those who hire them know this and exploit the men and women for maximum profit.

Eventually, Mahoma Lopez and some of his coworkers have had enough and decide to organize. But they will not be able to do it alone so they enlist the help of people in the Occupy Wall Street movement and other concerned citizens. The bosses, who declined to be interviewed for the documentary, are not happy.

What follows is a yearlong massive struggle on the upper eastside for a living wage between the workers and the investors who are highly reluctant to pay a decent wage or accord these workers any decency, much less power. For those who do not know what happened, The Hand That Feeds becomes an intense battle for pride and prosperity. Investors and management have the power and money. The workers only have themselves. If they are to win they will have to unite, but that is easier said than done. Management or someone they hire, usually know how to drive a wedge between the working poor.

As the minimum wage debate takes center stage in Los Angeles and the rest of the country (where the minimum asking is too little), members of the working and shrinking middle classes will have plenty to gain by investing in the price of a movie ticket to view The Hand That Feeds.

LAFF 2013: AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS By: Faiz No comments

A scene from Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

Miss take

By Don Simpson

Writer-director David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saintsis a cinematic meditation on poor, rural Texas life in the 1970s (though it often feels like the 1920s or 30s). It is Bob’s (Casey Affleck) desperate economic situation and intense desire to support Ruth (Rooney Mara) that has driven him to become an outlaw. There is presumably very little work available, so Bob’s only available option is to steal from others. These perceived external pressures at work against Bob are somewhat similar to Kit’s situation in Terrence Malick’s Badlands (1973). Both films also allude to psychological issues at play within the minds of their male antiheroes. The men are blindly obsessed with their girlfriends to disastrous proportions.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints ain’t just about obsession; it is also about the deteriorating effects of guilt and secrets on one’s soul. Unlike Bob, Ruth seems to understand the grim reality that she and Bob will never be together again, so Ruth has sentenced herself to a loveless life of chastity to punish herself for the crime for which Bob is doing time. Ruth will never be happy because she knows that Bob has offered up his life for her freedom, while Bob will not be happy until he is reunited with his family. All because of one simple mistake — for which nobody died — Ruth and Bob are destined to be unhappy for the rest of their lives.

Like that of an early Malick film (Days of Heaven), cinematographer Bradford Young showcases iconic rural landscapes in transcendent magic hour photography. Lowery’s film is obsessed with the textures and degradation of rusting metal, peeling paint and splitting wood. Everyone and everything is covered with a thick layer of dirt.


Ain't Them Bodies Saints screens at LAFF 2013: June 15, 7 p.m., Regal Cinemas; June 17, 4:50 p.m., Regal Cinemas. For more info: www.lafilmfest.com