''Misère au Borinage'' (, or 'Penury in the Borinage'), also known as ''Borinage'', is a 1934 Belgian

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by Henri Storck and

Joris Ivens Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens (18 November 1898 – 28 June 1989) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker. Among the notable films he directed or co-directed are '' A Tale of the Wind'', ''The Spanish Earth'', ''Rain'', ''...A Valparaiso'', '' Misèr ...

. Produced during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the film's theme is intensely

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, covering the poor living conditions of workers, particularly

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

rs, in the Borinage region of

Hainaut Province Hainaut ( , also , ; ; ; ; ), historically also known as Heynault in English, is the westernmost province of Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It is considered a classic work of political cinema and has been described as "one of the most important references in the documentary genre". ''Misère au Borinage'' was shot in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

and is a

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

with

intertitle In films and videos, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (hence, ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred ...

s in French and Dutch. It opens with a title card, bearing the slogan: "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 Ambridge is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. Incorporated in 1905 as a company town by the American Bridge Company, Ambridge is located 16 miles (25 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, along the Ohio River. The population ...

in the United States. The film then shifts to the Borinage, an industrial region in

, during and after the general strike of 1932. The majority of the film focuses on the plight of Borinage

rs 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. The film was made against the context of the Great Depression and premiered in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in March 1934. 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.Historical dictionary of Belgium Scarecrow press, 1999, p. 191. In 2000, a new documentary was made about the Borinage as a tribute to Storck: ''" Les Enfants du Borinage - Lettre à Henri Storck"''.

References

;Bibliography *

External links

* Review of the film and video (version of 1933) without music or comment; French and Dutch titles. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Misere Au Borinage Black-and-white documentary films 1934 short documentary films 1934 films Belgian short documentary films Films shot in Belgium Films directed by Henri Storck Films directed by Joris Ivens 1930s political films Great Depression films Belgian black-and-white films General strikes in Belgium

See also

References

External links