Cheap Bread and Roses (DVD) (Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody) (Ken Loach) Price

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Customer Reviews of Bread and Roses

Si se puede!
This film is a must-see for anyone with an interest in how life can be lived in the United States in this new era of globalization. I am a sociologist with a professional interest in undocumented Mexican immigrants who was also a long-time resident of Los Angeles during the period, 1999-2000, in which the events of this film take place. Accordingly, I am well familiar with the Justice for Janitors campaign with its powerful slogan, Si se puede! Maya, the heroine of the film, is young, beautiful, and determined, if not unscrupulous. At the film's beginning, we see her entering the United States from Mexico in a group guided by two coyotes. Upon arrival in Los Angeles, she is expecting her sister Rosa to have the money to pay for her clandestine passage. However, her sister, because her husband is very sick with diabetes, does not have the money to pay the coyotes. The two toss a coin to decide which of them will spend the night with her so that she can repay her financial debt in kind. The winner takes her to his apartment. While taking a shower, he anticipates her seduction. However, she robs him of all his money, steals his fancy cowboy boots and escapes. She obtains a job as a janitor in the large downtown office building where her sister also works. Because she is undocumented she has to pay her supervisor, Freddie Perez, her first month's salary, divisible in two parts during her first two months of work. Unknown to Maya at the time, her sister only got the job for Maya after Rosa had agreed to sleep with Perez. Working in the office building, Maya soon meets the two men who provide the romantic action for the film: Sam Schapiro, the young and intellectual union organizer, and Ruben, a fellow Mexican immigrant janitor, who has hopes of attending the University of Southern California on a scholarship. The contrast between Maya's status and that of Sam is extreme. In one of the most poignant moments of the film, Maya asks Sam, "What do you have to lose?" The bitter-sweet ending left me in tears.

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Elpidia Carrillo shines in Bread and Roses.
Bread and Roses shows us the world of the illegal immigrants in Los Angeles who clean buildings for sub-standard wages and no benefits. Life is a daily stuggle to pay the bills and put food on the table. These poor people live in fear that they will be fired without cause and turned into beggars. Often enough their worst fears are realized. They watch helplessly as their friends are demeaned, mistreated, and thrown out on the street.

A union organizer,Sam, capably played by Adrien Brody, tries to organize these frightened and abused people. He meets Maya, Pilar Padilla, who works as a janitor in an office building thanks to help she received from her sister Rosa, wonderfully played by Elpidia Carrillo. Maya has recently been smuggled into Los Angeles by "coyotes," men who take advantage of poor Mexicans who want a chance at the good life in America. She still has her hopes and idealism intact and argues with her sister to help Sam deliver his message to all the janitors at the building where they work.

Rosa has lost her idealism and much of her hope years ago. She stuggles to pay her bills, support a sick husband, and maintain her health and sanity, both of which she is in danger of losing. In the most moving scene of this film, or any other the viewer is likely to see anytime soon, Rosa explains to Maya how she has had to degrade herself to live and support her family. She is a good person who has prostituted herself to survive. Her description of the years she has submitted to the beastial behavior of the animals who prey on the weak and powerless women who want nothing more than bread to eat and a roof over their head will not soon be forgotten by any sensitive viewer.

For Sam and the union, bread is a start, but they also want roses for the people who clean up after us day after day. The message of this film is a compelling one. Director Ken Loach always keeps his eyes on this main theme -- justice for the underpriviledged in our society. He shows us the humanity of the real people who struggle each day to make a living, often without losing their dignity and sense of humor.

The entire cast turns in solid performances, but it is Elpidia Carrillo who shines above the rest. She deserved an Academy Award nomination for her startling performance. Her work in Bread and Roses is reason enough for me to recommend this film.

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The next DeNiro
I just finished watching the movie, and Brody has such an incredibly subtle, yet powerful performance, I rank him as the of the next greatest actors of his generation. The supporting cast comprised of actors with little or no name attached to them are incredible and memorable. George Lopez delivers an outstanding performance. For those who are only familiar with his comedy, this film sheds a new light on a very talented man. The acting and writing are outstanding, to a point that you really forget that you are not watching just another day in the life of these characters.