Watching Bread and Roses is like being in school - you get the lessons but there isn't enough playtime.
Almost every character is either totally bad or totally good and that is totally tedious. Only the lead character's sister shows more than one-dimension as she is torn between solidarity or getting health benefits for her ailing husband. But for some reason it was felt she needed more audience sympathy so the character gets an overlong unconvincing confession about her past.
To liven up the proceedings and presumably allow silly stunts, the union organiser is a "loose cannon" defying the official union line. So you get a bizarre confrontation with building staff as they do lunch where the union organiser takes the food from their plate. I wouldn't have minded but the building staff were employees not bosses and had no power to change the situation. The same scene is replayed later a bit more relevantly in front of people who do have the power to change things.
Laverty is surefooted on the politics but his story-telling and characterisations are lame. I'd rather watch a documentary on the issue.
Almost every character is either totally bad or totally good and that is totally tedious. Only the lead character's sister shows more than one-dimension as she is torn between solidarity or getting health benefits for her ailing husband. But for some reason it was felt she needed more audience sympathy so the character gets an overlong unconvincing confession about her past.
To liven up the proceedings and presumably allow silly stunts, the union organiser is a "loose cannon" defying the official union line. So you get a bizarre confrontation with building staff as they do lunch where the union organiser takes the food from their plate. I wouldn't have minded but the building staff were employees not bosses and had no power to change the situation. The same scene is replayed later a bit more relevantly in front of people who do have the power to change things.
Laverty is surefooted on the politics but his story-telling and characterisations are lame. I'd rather watch a documentary on the issue.