Perfectly adorable

Brilliant and touching

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Germinal is a film about the workers of a mining company in the North of France, during the seventies of the nineteenth century. it was the time of the First Socialist International, and the rise of the workers movement. The story is based on the book by Emile Zola, with the same title. Although Zola was not a socialist, he sketches a debunking image of the misery and poverty of the common people. I bought the DVD on a visit in Brussels, the bilingual capital of Belgium. Surprisingly the Frenchspeaking minority hardly masters the Dutch language, and this is reflected in the DVD, that lacks any subtitles (not even English ones). Being a Dutchman, my French is rather poor, so it would be unjustified for me to comment on the dialogs. However, the pictures and now and then an understandable passage are clear enough to convey the developments. The mining company operates still in the old tradition, with a true capitalist entrepreneur and owner. The mine is dangerous, and the economic crisis forces the wages to ever lower levels. The miners of both sexes are primitive folks, and we know from contemporary reports that the harsh conditions greatly contributed to their dissoluteness (which of course is less their fault than that of the then employers and system). Naturally they become rebellious, and start a strike fund. A roaming socialist agitator arrives, and becomes engaged in the mining company. When the wages are once again lowered, the miners go on strike. Their financial resistance is low (unions were scarce, and strikes were usually started impulsively), and soon hunger and distress break the workers solidarity. Some of them resume their work, which escalates the situation. The rage of the miners and the revolutionary agitation mix into an explosive atmosphere. The strikers assault the mine, make havoc, and lynch the local storekeeper (who is even castrated by the mob). Now the army is called in to occupy the mine, and protects the non-strikers. When the strikers start to throw stones at the soldiers, they fire into the crowd killing tens of people. For the moment the order is restored, and work is resumed. The ordeal continues, when a bore penetrates the galleries and causes explosions in the installations. Again lots of people are killed. The film follows one particular mining family, who is approximately decimated during the unfolding course of things. Finally the grandfather strangles a daughter of the mine-owner, who visits their house in order to bring relief. Indeed the contrast between the miners' misery and the capitalists' abundance could hardly be more profound. In spite of the at times shocking violence used by the miners, one has to sympathize with them. It was the period of forced capital accumulation, in which the wealthy people were obsessed by economic growth due to capital investments and in the process destroyed the level of consumption and well-being of the people. This film is a good reminder, even without understandable dialogs.

I've never been interested in costume drama's that deal with 18th and 19th century high society. As I once said before in another review: "There is just too much gold foil, too much ugly wigs and pompous costumes, too much over the top decors, just too much of everything that I detest in it" and I really haven't changed my idea about that so far. But when I'm able to see a movie that deals with the life of the ordinary man in that time period, than I'm always willing to give it a chance."Germinal" is such a movie that deals with life of the ordinary man and woman. It tells the story of the coal miners in the region of Lille, in the North of France at the end of the 19th century. They are all poor, they work too hard in awful conditions and they don't get paid what they deserve by the bosses who only want to get richer and richer by doing whatever they can so they won't have to pay a cent to their workforce. Of course the miners aren't happy with that situation and when they get into contact with two men who both want to change the situation, one a communist union man and the other one an anarchist, the miners soon go on a strike, with some very unpleasant consequences as a result...What first went through my mind while seeing this one, was that this movie has a lot of similarities with "Daens" (1993), the Belgian movie that tells the story of the poor textile workers in Flanders at the end of the 19th century. It's the same time period and both regions are only about 60 miles or 90 kilometers apart. If you like to see what life in the European industrial regions at the end of the 19th century was like, than both movies are certainly something you shouldn't miss.What I liked about the movie as well was that it had a good pace and that it stayed interesting from the beginning until the end. It could have been very easy for the director to make a movie about this subject that lasted 5 or 6 hours, but than it might have lost much of its power. Now, you get a pretty good idea of what life in that region during the industrial revolution was like, without having to struggle through too many details that don't really contribute to the story. Next to the good story, I must say that I also liked the acting. Even though Gérard Depardieu hasn't always made the best choices of movies to play in, I always like him in the role of the ordinary man, the underdog that has to fight the system. I liked him in the mini-series "Les Misérables" as well and he has the same kind of role in this movie. The other actors did a fine job as well, even though I have to admit that I don't really know anyone of them, except for Bernard Fresson perhaps. All in all this is a very good adaptation of the novel by Émile Zola. It does exactly what I expected from it and that's why I give it at least a 7.5/10.

"Germinal", based on a novel by Emile Zola, is an epic film which studies the anatomy of a strike in a 19th century French coal mine. During it's 2.5+ hour run time, the film shows the wretchedness of coal miners, their deplorable living conditions, their attempts to organize, negotiations, strike, rioting, police suppression, sabotage, etc. The story is woven around a handful of characters who represent the forces at work; management, union, profiteers, scabs, etc.About Zola's novel, Havelock Ellis wrote: "It was neither amusing enough nor outrageous enough to attract the multitude". So it is with the film which emphasizes realism over romanticism and exists more as a study of a timeless social/political issue than pure commercial entertainment. A must see for cinema buffs but not likely have broad commercial appeal.

"Germinal" is a vivid, colorful, eloquent rendering of how the life of mine workers was in Europe in late 19th century. It is also a powerful illustration of how a strike could come about in that time, and how difficult - almost hopeless - it could seem for those dirt-poor people to try and improve their miserable life conditions. Of course, the contrast with the bourgeoisie is striking and thought-provoking. Depardieu (as Maheu) is, as usual, a giant figure, and most other actors are also very convincing. One question that remains when you saw it all is : can you really change a society's deep, unfair structure without violence?