Comments for Left Film Review

Comment on Che (2008) by Bitacora Anarquista

Bitacora Anarquista — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:34:36 +0000

I would like to add that I got so much distracted by Del Toro’s accent in Spanish. Gael Garcia Bernal in Motorcycle Diaries does a fine job and he’s not Argentinian either (Mexican). At times, it seemed that Del Toro didn’t master Spanish, and that killed it for me. I couldn’t focus on the film, that and also the way he was protraying El Che lacked emotion. He was calmed under any situation.

Comment on Documentary a Day: Mine War on Blackberry Creek (1986) by KurtFF8

KurtFF8 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:57:23 +0000

Thank you very much for sharing

Comment on Documentary a Day: Mine War on Blackberry Creek (1986) by private

private — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:49:09 +0000

This is a very good film. I grew up in nearby Beech Creek, then moved with my mother to Matewan in the ’80s. She was an underground coal miner at Leslie Coal Mines in Sydney, Kentucky. When Massey bought the mine and fired everyone there, because it was a union mine and they hated unions, the miners went on strike for two years. I spent many a day on the picket line with my mom and her brothers and sisters of the union. It was an unsuccessful strike, the reasons why you will hear Don Blankenship crow about in the documentary above. Both my mother’s feet were crushed in an accident and she had to have surgery. Before my mother left work in the mines, she was proud to say she could outlift and outwork most men, but she coughed up black gunk every day.

Through my mother, I know a lot of the people in this film. My uncle was killed in a conveyor belt accident around 1988. My mom’s friend Rocky Peck did around 1990 at the bottom of a mine shaft, after he was forced to work nonunion to survive. Before my father left work in the mines to work on the railroad, he blew a finger off “capping” (setting off explosives) in the mines.

The people back home in Matewan have mostly changed their minds, and somehow it became okay to work in nonunion mines like Massey, even though Massey became infamous for safety violations and total contempt of unions. It’s a sad situation. I haven’t been back for almost 15 years now, but I plan to go one more time (that’s probably all I can bear) to see my parents’ graves before I leave the country for retirement. I’m pretty tired of the US.

Comment on The Trotsky (2010) by Left Film Review Exclusive: Interview with the director of The Trotsky « Left Film Review

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:27:06 +0000

[...] fall the Left Film Review was able to sit down with Jacob Tierney, director of The Trotsky, at the Atrium (60 Wall [...]

Comment on About by KurtFF8

KurtFF8 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:13:52 +0000

I’ve yet to see that film, although it’s certainly on my list of films to watch

Comment on What this site is by Rowan Duffy

Rowan Duffy — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:17:28 +0000

Check out Kin Dza Dza. It explores class through the lense of a SciFi and was made in the USSR.

Comment on About by Stephen Kirk

Stephen Kirk — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:30:49 +0000

I was wondering if anybody had seen the 60′s french film Masculin Feminin. It’s a Jean luc-goddard film and it does, to me, have some strong leftist tendencies. Even without, it is still a really good film

Comment on About by Dr. Garry Potter

Dr. Garry Potter — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:26:36 +0000

Dystopia: What is to be done? is a 65 minutes long documentary about a compendium of crises facing humanity now and in the near future. It is available for free ‘true streaming’ viewing on the website. There is also a one minute trailer on the site itself as well as on YouTube. The film is certainly “leftist”; but hey, just check it out.

Comment on Tout Va Bien (1973) by Documentary a Day: The Take (2004) « Waiting for Lefty

Documentary a Day: The Take (2004) « Waiting for Lefty — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 17:31:16 +0000

[...] retake the factory, and interviews with the factory owner reminded me of a scene in Godard’s Tout Va Bien where the boss tries to justify capitalism and property against a worker uprising (which resulted [...]

Comment on Matewan (1987) by Documentary a Day: Mine War on Blackberry Creek (1986) « Waiting for Lefty

Documentary a Day: Mine War on Blackberry Creek (1986) « Waiting for Lefty — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:58:19 +0000

[...] Matewan – A late 1980s film about earlier labor disputes in West Virginia. [...]