Cheap Germinal [Region 2] (DVD) (Claude Berri) Price

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Customer Reviews of Germinal [Region 2]

SIX STARS
This is one of the great ones. Every bit as riveting as "Shindler's List", it is not about the Jews and The Holocaust, but a less immediate cause - coal miners in France in 1884. Deserves to be one of France's top ten films of all time. Costing $30 million, it's worth every penny. At two hours, 38 minutes, it never lost me for a second. I sat enthralled, immersed in the poverty, meanness, and ugliness of the world Berri's camera shows us. The extras he used are actual descendants of the original striking coal miners Emile Zola based his novel on. The title means germination, as in the workers planted a seed of unions and justice which would in fact sprout in the 20th century. Gerard Depardieu was really part of a large ensemble cast, each with great parts. It was especially good in showing us that there are no easy winners, or answers, in the contrast of rich and poor. The poor would be just like the rich if they had the chance, and enough to eat does not necessarily bring happiness. There was romance here, and violence, sharp and quick, darkness and light, sumptious dinner scenes, and dirty people in dank mines. This should not be buried in obscurity. A great story, passionately told