Misère au Borinage
| Fintan Brady | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Henri Storck Joris Ivens |
| Written by | Henri Storck Joris Ivens |
| Edited by | Helen van Dongen |
Release date | 1934 |
Running time | 36 minutes |
| Country | Belgium |
| Languages | French, Dutch |
Misère au Borinage (French, literally "Poverty in the Borinage"), also known as Borinage, was a 1934[1] Belgian documentary film directed by Henri Storck and Joris Ivens. With a strongly socialist message, the film is considered to be a classic work of political cinema[2] and has been described as "one of the most important references in the documentary genre".[3]
Film
The film is silent and opens with the words "Crisis in the Capitalist World. Factories are closed down, abandoned. Millions of proletarians are hungry!" and shows footage of the repression of a 1933 strike in Ambridge, Pennsylvania in the United States. The film then shifts to the Borinage region of Belgium during and after the general strike of 1932. The majority of the film focuses on the plight of Borinage coal miners who have been evicted from their houses and made unemployed following their participation in the strike. It also shows the poor living conditions of the miners and their families. The film makes the argument that strike action could be justified by the poor conditions in which Belgian workers lived.[4]
The film premiered in Brussels in March 1934.[5] According to Robert Stallaerts, Storck's work as director of Misère au Borinage justified his status as "father of Walloon cinema" even though he was actually Flemish.[6]
In 2000, a new documentary was made about the Borinage as a tribute to Storck: "Les Enfants du Borinage - Lettre à Henri Storck".
See also
References
- ^ Mathijs 2004, p. 37.
- ^ Patricia Aufderheide, Documentary film: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, 2007, p.79. ISBN 978-0-19-518270-5
- ^ Misery in Borinage
- ^ Mathijs 2004, p. 41.
- ^ Mathijs 2004, p. 42.
- ^ Historical dictionary of Belgium Scarecrow press, 1999, p. 191. ISBN 0-8108-3603-3
Bibliography
- Mathijs, Ernest, ed. (2004). The Cinema of the Low Countries. London: Wallflower Press. ISBN 9781904764007.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
External links
- "Critique: Misère au Borinage (Misery In Borinage) by Ivens & Storck". La Revue Toudi. Retrieved 2009-10-13. Review of the film and video (version of 1933) without music or comment; French and Dutch titles.
- Misère au Borinage at IMDb
