Germminal and Econ

The film Germinal, directed by Claude Berri, is a French film about the economic struggles of a coal mining family in France. This movie is based on the book Germinal written by Emile Zota in 1885. The film shows how Toussaint Maheu's family is struggling to make enough money to live on for the week. Even the grandfather is still working, even though he violently coughs up coal dust. This live is not glamorous at all; they get up really early in the morning before the sun comes up. Then got to a job where then are trapped in the mines for hours after hours working and sweating all day long. They barely make enough money to take care of the seven kids and themselves, so two of the kids are also working in the mines. Maheude, the mother, also takes two of her kids to a rich family in the town to beg for food and clothes. This is a huge contrast between the two classes living in the same town.

A new worker, Ð"‰tienne Lantier, comes to town and changes everyone's ideas about how the mine should be run and how much they are making. He sets up a union for the workers the workers pay a dues, then eventually they go on strike. When they go on strike the monetary situation gets worse. They beg the local storeowner for bread, but he tells then that he will not give them any more food on credit.

There way of life mirrors one of the examples in The Making of Economic Society by Robert L. Heilbroner and William Milberg, in chapter four there is an interview with a woman who worked in a factory in England with her daughters. She tells how they did not get as many breaks as they needed and how her eldest daughter had her finger chopped off at the second joint, she was not paid after she was hurt.

Marriage also played a huge part in the film Germinal. The children were urged not to marry so that the family could benefit from their earnings. If they do choose to marry they make a deal with the other family so that both can benefit. When Cathrine married Chaval, I got the feeling that she did it so she would be taken care of. Even in the rich family the marriages were set up to give the family a higher status.

I did live this film, even though; there were some really graphic scenes. The bath scenes showed that modesty was last on their list of things to worry about. The film also showed how these people were able to survive on family and love not money. They found ways around the fact that they did not always have bread