You have to admire good, worthy Ken Loach. Always admirable in motive and honest depiction, he is Britain's true indie maverick.However, when he moved this production and story to L.A., even I felt a bit cheated and I'm sure a few lost allegiance for the director. But, just because it (at least at first) seems to lacks the kaleidoscope of colourful characters that we can identify with when he's shooting on home soil, it's about the people and in this case, Mexican workers employed illegally by a large non-union contractor as office cleaners.I've heard of Americans requiring subtitles in order to decipher a thick Glaswegian accent and here we experience lots of subtitles, as much of the dialogue, from a largely amateur cast, is in Spanish. We, who're used to such soon get used to this but it's all a slight barrier and uphill struggle before we feel submersed into the story.The story itself won't be recited around campfires for years to come and the dialogue is more of your typical bitty everyday conversation than the lovingly crafted screenplays that win awards. The filming, often in similar looking corridors and offices hardly allows for creativity either, but as Mr Loach is the nearest we have to the simplistic approach to the Scandinavian 'Dogme' movement, this comes as no surprise.A charismatic Adrien Brody drops his Oscar winning stature to play a 'Justice For Janitors' unionist and at first we see him hiding around workplaces where he is definitely not welcome. He soon gets on the case of two young women, recently taken on as cleaners but have families to support.Like more locally grown Loach's, there's lots of often grating arguing, raised voices, splashes of humour plus that all-important social message. We, or at least I, perhaps wrongly, however, cannot quite warm to the campaign as much as I do with a British Ken Loach film and like the characters themselves, feel somewhat alienated from both them and their plight.So, far from Ken's best but still not bad.

I'd like to start with a positive note: I liked the performance of Elpidia Carrillo.I did not care much for the rest of the movie.It has been shown, again and again, that trade unions are bad for the American economy. The UAW union has been "successfully" destroying the American automobile industry; the teachers' union has been no less successfully destroying the American schools; et cetera, et cetera. But these minor details shouldn't matter, should they, when we watch "Bread and Roses"? This movie, if you take it seriously, wants you to believe that without a union, the only way for a woman to get a job for herself or for her sister is to sleep with the boss; otherwise she can only support her family by becoming a prostitute.The cute female lead, an illegal Mexican immigrant, robs a gas station, but we are supposed to sympathize with her because this is "for a good cause".The male lead, a union organizer, steals the food from a table in a restaurant, and we are supposed to admire him for that and other examples of outrageous anti-social behavior.The demonstrators, when asked for their names by the police, give the names of Mexican revolutionary figures, and we are supposed to laugh at the stupidity of the American policemen.The illegals, oops, the undocumented workers, struggle to improve their lot in this country, instead of doing the same in their own country, or waiting in line to come here legally. We of course are expected to fully support them, to embrace them, to learn their language, to sing their songs. It shouldn't cross our mind that they have already broken the law of this country by crossing the border illegally and just for that alone should be treated as criminals.And that's both funny and outrageously shameful.

"Bread and Roses" was less agitprop than I expected, though I just tuned out on the more didactic speeches (so maybe I missed how the Pyrrhic labor victory was actually negotiated). More docudrama in feel, per director Ken Loach's improv style, than "Norma Rae," the movie is made poignant by the two counter-pointing women leads. As sisters both trying to improve their lot in life, from brutal immigration to the search for respectability and a modicum of comfort through hard work, the actress's chemical reaction of their relationship keeps the movie real. The romantic side story is thankfully just a blip, as it doesn't work that well.While I got a kick out of the cameo appearances of Hollywood SAG-member actors at their lawyers' party while the lawyers are accused of owning the buildings that employ the chintzy janitors' contractors, a little more on that legal side would have made the contractors' less stereotypically evil. I was reminded of a conversation I had with my grandfather, who lived to be over 100, when he overheard some trial being called "The Trial of the Century" -- he launched on in detail about how the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had gotten off thanks to the silver tongues of their lawyers, whose names were etched in his memory.The laudatory gimmick of providing bi-lingual sub-titles as the characters slip between English and Spanish is lost when (once again!) the subtitles are white on white -- what, does yellow cost that much more? Maybe movie patrons need to organize!(originally written 6/3/2001)

Take a look at the biography of Paul Laverty on this site . A truly remarkable and gifted individual who has led a very interesting life . What a pity then that he didn't sacrifice some of his lust for life by reading up on what makes a good story . Sorry if I'm sounding bitter or personal towards Mr Laverty but is there any type of market for this movie ?BREAD AND ROSES is the story of Maya , an illegal immigrant from Mexico whose sister Rosa gets her a job as a janitor . Being a non union service the work supervisor can hire and fire people on a whim so Maya with some others organizes " A Justice For Janitors " campaign I do concede that not every movie can be LORD OF THE RINGS in epic scope , technical ability or just plain excitement but really who is going to stand out a cinema in the pouring rain wanting to buy a ticket for something like this ? One things for certain - There won't be a long queue in front of you if you do decide to see it I do concede that Ken Loach directed movies are very popular . But only with people obsessed with " social realism " and once again Loach directs a movie with zero commercial appeal . Anyone who has attended any worthy film class will realise there is no longer ( If there ever was ) any type of market for this type of film . Of course some very privileged people who are professional socialists will scream that we need film makers like Loach and Laverty in order to point out the grave injustices of the socio economic divide but I suggest that India , a country that personifies the injustice between the haves and have nots , has perhaps the most successful film industry in the universe and there's no such thing as " social realism " in a Bollywood movie The bottom line for Loach and Laverty is : If you want to send a message try Western Union