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Bread and Roses
Lions Gate Films


9.2

based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for strong language and brief nudity

Starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody, Elpidia Carrillo, Jack McGee, George Lopez, Alonso Chavez, Monica Rivas, and Frankie Davila

In chronicling the experiences of Maya, a young Mexican woman who crosses the border illegally and must fend for herself in contemporary Los Angeles, director Ken Loach takes an individual's personal and professional struggle and builds it into a moving portrait of one of our nation's most troubled -- and least visible -- communities. (Lions Gate Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Paul Laverty
DIRECTED BY:	Ken Loach
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 27, 2001 Video: November 27, 2001 Theatrical: May 11, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	110 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / France / Germany / Spain / Switzerland
LANGUAGE(S):	English / Spanish

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

The film is never less than a satisfying mix of compelling entertainment and social critique. The performances are uniformly superb.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Will this movie change anything, or this review make you want to see it? No, probably not. But when you come in tomorrow morning, someone will have emptied your wastebasket.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

There's every reason to watch Bread and Roses for what Loach really does best: He involves us directly in the desperate lives of his characters, who are forced to live without security and who have to compromise to make ends meet. And, above all, who feel as real as moviemaking allows.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Full of pungent and telling observation.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The reason Bread and Roses works as well as it does is that as didactic as it sometimes gets, its heart is always bigger than its ideology.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Socially alert drama.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

He plies his viewers with plenty of bread -- chewy and, to some tastes, dry and starchy scenes -- but he also scatters petals of whimsy and delight to nourish the senses.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Bread and Roses" hits home when one of Maya's co-workers observes, "When we put on uniforms, we become invisible." It's a truth as uncomfortable as it is undeniable.

LA Weekly John Patterson

There are scenes here that fill one with rage or bring tears to the eyes.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a passionate film powered by the righteous anger of injustice.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

As is often the case in Loach's films, all the acting is exemplary. Padilla, who learned English only shortly before making the film, is a natural actress, a smoldering presence.

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

What's somewhat ironic about Bread and Roses is that it's bound to be more interesting to people outside of L.A. than in it.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It would be easy to pigeonhole this as "Norma Rae" en L.A., and Padilla is at least as ingratiating and as much of a guy magnet as Sally Field was in that movie.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Loach has gotten hold of a marvelous subject -- the invisibility of the working poor in the environs of the rich -- that keeps you watching despite all the banner-waving.

Slate David Edelstein

The director's knee-jerk anti-capitalism often sticks in my (white, well-fed) craw.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

A genuine consciousness-raiser, but it's less a social-realist narrative than a high-volume rally.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Its politics and dramatic line are familiar and far from convincing.

Chicago Reader Staff (Not Credited)

Suffers from clumsy acting (mainly Hispanic amateurs), an obvious screenplay by Paul Laverty, and a simplistic view of the characters.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty draw everything in simplistic, overstated terms. The good guys are pure and spunky, the bad guys bellicose and one-dimensional, the conflicts stripped of nuance.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chad S. gave it a 9:
Spike Lee did a damn fine job directing "Malcolm X", but his argument that only an African-American could tell an African-American story was largely false. Like the novelist Susan Straight, Ken Loach is not Mexican. But Straight's "Highwire Moon" and this searing indictment of Los Angeles by John Sayl-, I mean, Ken Loach, proves that authenticity isn't synonymous with nationality. "Bread and Roses" is an angry film, sometimes too angry, as didacticism hijacks social commentary in the form of a lecture about America's social problems; like John Singleton did in "Boyz in the Hood"; like Loach does when Maya (Pilar Padilla) tells Ruben (Alonso Chavez) about health care in America. But for the most part, Loach's angry story seethes with discipline, and with the help of some remarkable non-actors, "Bread and Roses" never feels over-the-top, even when Maya and Rosa (Elpidia Carrillo) have it out with each other, because they convince us that we're watching real life, and sometimes real life happens to be melodramatic. "Bread and Roses" turns illegal aliens into you and me, and makes it harder for you and me to be apologetically xenophobic.

Janine M. gave it a 9:
Excellent! I took my students to see it so that they understand more about the problems immigrants are facing in the US, and they enjoyed it.

Jim H. gave it a 9:
Great flick about the invisibility of the working poor and union organizing.

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Bread and Roses Lions Gate Films

Bread and Roses
Lions Gate Films