Icarus Films announced this past week that documentary filmmaker Stan Neumann’s fascinating four-part mini-series, A History of the European Working Class, will be making its domestic DVD debut on Sept. 27.
Dating back thousands of years to the formation of cultivated agriculture and the communities and civilizations — empires — that grew from the transition from hunter-gatherer to the specialization of skill-sets took another turn in the 18th Century with the arrival of the “industrial revolution.” Neumann’s four-part documentary breaks the social upheavals that followed into historical segments, beginning with a look at the arrival of the “Factory System” in England and Belgium.
The social compact of craftsman and cottage labor was quickly changed as workers became “cogs” in giant, more-efficient, factories. These dramatic social changes are explored in Neumann’s second section as the French workers take to the streets and fight back against the consolidation of power in the ever-increasing might of the industrial state.
By the arrival of the 20th Century, the industrialization of Europe had also transitioned the “war machine” to ever more efficient levels … World War I and the chaos that followed; revolution … death at previously unimaginable levels. The pace is ever-quickening.
And finally, Neumann’s A History of the European Working Class brings us to the post-World War II “working-class” societies of Europe.
A History of the European Working Class is presented with a mix of English and French, with English subtitles where appropriate.
No comments:
Post a Comment