Bread and Roses (2000)

65% of critics liked it
(62 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(3,845 ratings)

Leftist filmmaker Ken Loach directs this grim drama about the plight of seemingly invisible office cleaners in contemporary L.A. who often earn as little as $6 a day without benefits. The film opens as Maya (Pilar Padilla), a young Mexican lass, is reuniting with her older sister Rosa (Elpidia… More Leftist filmmaker Ken Loach directs this grim drama about the plight of seemingly invisible office cleaners in contemporary L.A. who often earn as little as $6 a day without benefits. The film opens as Maya (Pilar Padilla), a young Mexican lass, is reuniting with her older sister Rosa (Elpidia Carrilio) in L.A. after a harrowing cross-border journey. Rosa sets her sister up first with a job as a barmaid, which Maya soon quits after getting repeatedly groped -- and then as a janitor. When her boss demands one month's salary as "commission," Maya happens upon Sam Shapiro (Adrien Brody), a muckraking lawyer and union agitator. This film, which was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, is remarkable for its prescience -- it was shown a month after a massive janitor's strike ground L.A.'s business community to a halt. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 50 min.
Directed By: Ken Loach
Written By: Paul Laverty
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: May 11, 2001 Limited
On DVD: Nov 27, 2001
Studio: Lions Gate Releasing

Critic Reviews

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
There's every reason to watch Bread and Roses
Susan Stark, Detroit News
Loach treats [the story] as a late-breaking sidebar to a narrative that essentially amounts to a tract on the glories of unskilled trade unionism.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Isn't a bad movie, just a painfully obvious one.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Loach ... has made his most appealing and involving movie to date with the touching, naturalistic Bread and Roses.
Jay Carr, Boston Globe
As didactic as it sometimes gets, its heart is always bigger than its ideology.
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty draw everything in simplistic, overstated terms.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...less dogmatic and milder than most of Loach's work, with a kind of sweet dignity about it
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
It doesn't really succeed in illustrating the workers' plights in a way that is ultimately sympathetic.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
At times "Bread and Roses" looks disingenuous...
Ted Murphy, Baseline.Hollywood.com
... the actual execution unfortunately doesn't carry the full dramatic weight the movie makers believe.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Daisy M

Bread and Roses, another movie directed by Ken Loach, only this time he used American location.It felt strange as he was used to present Irish, English or Scottish locations.A young Mexican girl Maya, living the American dream,working and living in the USA came over very believable.… More
Bread and Roses, another movie directed by Ken Loach, only this time he used American location.It felt strange as he was used to present Irish, English or Scottish locations.A young Mexican girl Maya, living the American dream,working and living in the USA came over very believable. Adrien Brody, did an excellent job, portraying the faces of injustice and helping immigrants in difficult job situations. Only this time Loach did not balance his Anti American views against the small opportunities and poverty in Mexico, and there was something missing in the movie.The acting from the main female character, Maya (Pilar Padilla),was very natural. Overall Bread and Roses worked best as a human drama.
Marion R

I only watched this becuase Adrien Brody came out. The lead actress just wasn't interesting to me. I didn't care about her character's plight. It seemed to me like she made some really dumb mistakes. I didn't find anything in her character to root for. I thought… More
I only watched this becuase Adrien Brody came out. The lead actress just wasn't interesting to me. I didn't care about her character's plight. It seemed to me like she made some really dumb mistakes. I didn't find anything in her character to root for. I thought the "love story" was weak. meh.
Dimitris S

Repressing proletarians,oh you Loach.A political innovator of cinematic beauty and justice,Loach stumbles upon the U.S. disorder which is obviously a great matter to develop in a feature film.The lighthearted approach is confusing to say the least and impeccably incoherent.The weakest… More
Repressing proletarians,oh you Loach.A political innovator of cinematic beauty and justice,Loach stumbles upon the U.S. disorder which is obviously a great matter to develop in a feature film.The lighthearted approach is confusing to say the least and impeccably incoherent.The weakest Loach in my opinion,very shallow sub-plot of a love story.
Leo L

A great film!