Ramparts of Clay (1971)

Director
Jean-Louis Bertuccelli

Main cast
Jean-Louis Trintignant; Leila Shenna

Genres
Drama

Description
In 1962, change comes to a Tunisian village on the edge of the Sahara. An entrepreneur sets up a salt mine, hiring village men. When he pays only half the wages agreed upon, they sit down in a field of rocks. The boss calls the army, who encircle the strikers. The women watch, sacrifice a sheep, pray, ululate. During the second night, a young woman hides the bucket and rope of the town's well to keep water from the army. The strike galvanizes her: she's learning to read and has studied a city woman who visits the village. Now, as she removes her traditional dress and rejects a ritual to cast out her new rebellious spirit, will she gain independence as did Tunisia and the strikers?


Similar movies

The film depicts a strike in 1903 by the workers of a factory in pre-revolutionary Russia, and their subsequent suppression. The film is most famous for a sequence near the end in which the violent putting down of the strike is cross-cut with footage of cattle being slaughtered, although there are several other points in the movie where animals are used as metaphors for the conditions of various individuals. Another theme in the film is collectivism in opposition to individualism which was viewed as a convention of western film.
When a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.
During WWII, four North African men enlist in the French army to liberate that country from Nazi oppression, and to fight French discrimination.
In autumn of 1526, the Emperor, Charles V, sends his German landsknechts led by Georg von Frundsberg to march towards Rome. The inferior papal armies, commanded by Giovanni de'Medici, try to chase them in the midst of a harsh winter. Nevertheless, the Imperial armies manage to cross the rivers along their march and get cannons thanks to the maneuvers of its Lords. In a skirmish, Giovanni de'Medici is wounded in the leg by a falconet shot. The attempts to cure him fail and he dies. The Imperial armies assault Rome. The film is beautifully but unassumingly set, and shows the hard conditions in which war is waged and its lack of glory. It ends straightforwardly with the declaration made after the death of Giovanni de'Medici by the commanders of the armies in Europe of not using again fire weapons because of their cruelty.
In 1890 werkte de bevolking van Aalst onder erbarmelijke omstandigheden in de textielfabrieken. Misbruikt en uitgebuit door de rijke fabrieksdirecteuren omwille van winst. Mannen werden ontslagen omdat vrouwen goedkoper werkten. Kinderen werkten dag en nacht en raakten zo vermoeid dat ze vaak in slaap vielen en onder de machines werden vermorzeld. Dat is de situatie die priester Adolf Daens (Decleir), na een conflict met bisschop Stillemans (Schoenaerts), aantreft bij de terugkeer in zijn geboortestad Aalst. Hij neemt zijn intrek bij zijn broer Pieter (Meuwissen), uitgever van het Land Van Aelst. Fabrieksdirecteur Borremans (Stephane) ontslaat de helft van zijn arbeiders, een aanpak die gesteund wordt door Charles Woeste (Desarthe), voorzitter van de Katholieke Partij. De ontslagen komen echter hard aan. Daens verzet zich tegen de wantoestanden.
In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends Winkel, a weak, alcoholic TV hack, to Gdansk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers, particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an articulate worker whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka.
Set in a Mumbai ghetto in the mid '80's and based on true life accounts, Striker is a story of triumph of human spirit over indomitable odds.
Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. The film focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle to save the lives of their sons.
Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.
God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.
The issues the miners strike for include equity in wages with Anglo workers, and health and safety issues.Ramon Quintero helps organize the strike, but at home he treats his wife,Esperanza Quintero,as a second class citizen.Esperanza who is pregnant with their third child,is usually passive but she changes her attitude when the men are forced to end their picketing by a Taft-Hartley Act injuction.
Babe, fresh from his victory in the sheepherding contest, returns to Farmer Hoggett's farm, but after Farmer Hoggett is injured and unable to work, Babe has to go to the big city to save the farm.
In a desert town, sometime in the future, a repressive government regime restricts all forms of artistic expression. At night, Theo breaks the law, risking torture and death, to paint his work on public spaces. But when his lover Elia is arrested for committing the same crime, Theo allows himself to be captured hoping to somehow be reunited with her.
Lagaan tells the tale of the Indian village Champaner, beset by drought and British colonialism in the year 1893. Without a drop of rain in months, the worried villagers of Champaner decide to ask the local authorities for a temporary repeal of their taxes -- the hated lagaan. Led by the heroic Bhuvan (Indian superstar Aamir Khan) they bring their plight to the military governor, Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne). But the sadistic Russell threatens to raise the lagaan threefold, unless the villagers can beat his men at a game of cricket, in which case he'll lift taxes on the entire province for a period of three years. Bhuvan accepts the challenge, but there's a problem -- no one in Champaner knows how to play cricket. A band of misfits come to the rescue, coached by Russell's soft-hearted sister Elizabeth (Rachel Shelley), and the race is on to be ready in three months' time. An epic reworking of Victory with eye-popping song-and-dance routines.
A veteran samurai, who has fallen on hard times, answers a village's request for protection from bandits. He gathers 6 other samurai to help him, and they teach the townspeople how to defend themselves, and they supply the samurai with three small meals a day. The film culminates in a giant battle when 40 bandits attack the village.
Based on the long running play by Jang Jin, the story is set in Korea during the Korean War in 1950. Soldiers from both the North and South, as well as an American pilot, find themselves in a secluded and naively idealistic village, its residents unaware of the outside world, including the war.
A Ukrainian village must suddenly contend with the Nazi invasion of June 1941.
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
Sometime in the early years of the century, a boy, Apu, is born to a poor Brahmin family in a village in Bengal. The father, a poet and priest, cannot earn enough to keep his family going. Apu's sister, Durga, is forever stealing guavas from the neighbour's orchards. All these add to the daily struggles of the mother's life, notwithstanding her constant bickering with old aunt who lives with the family.
Based on the bestselling novel by Joanna Trollope Recently returned to England from New York City, vivacious heiress Clodagh Unwin befriends a couple new to her village. The husband is entranced by the young aristocrat, but Clodagh has eyes for someone else: his wife, Alice. Alice has a gilded life--beautiful children, a handsome husband, and a stately home. Secretly, she’s depressed after the birth of her third child and unhappy in her marriage. Clodagh proves irresistible. But when tongues start wagging, the women learn that love might not be enough.
After being turned down by the ruling Britons, the rightful heir to a famous dynasty inspires local villagers to build a dam themselves. A small-time thief reforms after learning about the role played by his grandfather in building a dam.
Set in a small Chinese village where HIV virus is spreading rapidly as a result of illicit blood trade, Mo shu wai zhuan revolves around De Yi and Qinqin are both estranged from their respective family because of their disease and unexpectedly find love with each other by their misfortunes.
Baava (Telugu: బావ) is a 2010 Telugu film, the debut film of director Ram Babu and starring Siddharth and Praneetha. The music was composed by Chakri. It is a romantic comedy with village backdrop.
An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addictions threaten her life and their daughter's safety. While the woman enters detox, her husband must face the truth of his enabling behavior.
During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?
After a bizarre and near fatal encounter with a serial killer, a newswoman is sent to a rehabilitation center whose inhabitants may not be what they seem.
A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skilful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
A girl reaches the age of nine and is supposed to act as a grown woman according to her family. A girl participates in a bike race against the will of her husband. An elderly woman decides she wants to buy all the things she always wanted but could never get.
In 1998, an auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor causes great excitement. For one woman, Wally Winthrop, it has much more meaning. Wally becomes obsessed by their historic love story. As she learns more about the sacrifices involved, Wally gains her own courage to find happiness.
A nameless woman keeps a diary as the Russians invade Berlin in the spring of 1945. She is in her early 30s, a patriotic journalist with international credentials; her husband, Gerd, a writer, is an officer at the Russian front. She speaks Russian and, for a day or two after the invasion, keeps herself safe, but then the rapes begin. She resolves to control her fate
The story is set in a rural area around Madurai, in the village called Parithiyur. Paruthiveeran (Karthi) is a country brash, He is often arrested for petty crimes. His one ambition in life is to gain enough notoriety to be on TV news and to be thrown into Madras Jail. He often bullies Paruthiyur villagers for money, women and fun. He lives with his doting uncle Chevvaazhai (Saravanan) who pampers and accompanies him in every misbehavior to keep him happy. His cousin Muththazhagu (Priyamani) is the daughter of a caste fanatic who is a prominent person in the village's council. Muththazhagu loves him more than her life, but he remains unmoved and keeps her at bay.
Marion is a woman who has learned to shield herself from her emotions. She rents an apartment to work undisturbed on her new book, but by some acoustic anomaly she can hear all that is said in the next apartment in which a psychiatrist holds his office. When she hears a young woman tell that she finds it harder and harder to bear her life, Marion starts to reflect on her own life. After a series of events she comes to understand how her unemotional attitude towards the people around her affected them and herself.
As the plague decimates medieval Europe, rumors circulate of a village immune from the plague. There is talk of a necromancer who leads the village and is able to raise the dead. A fearsome knight joined by a cohort of soldiers and a young monk are charged by the church to investigate. Their journey is filled with danger, but it's upon entering the village that their true horror begins.
A seductive woman gets an innocent professor mixed up in murder.
A woman, attended by two midwives, is giving birth in a small village in India. When the child's cry rings, the father bangs on a steel plate to attract the attention of all the villagers, ...
Young Park Seol-Hee is eagerly planning her wedding to a young anti-Communist activist when the North Koreans invade. Her fiancé is forced to flee, leaving her behind with her family in their tiny, rural South Korean village. Rather than resist the North Korean regiment that comes to occupy the area, the townspeople (to Seol-Hee's dismay) decide to cooperate with them in order to ensure their own survival. The North Koreans, however, turn out not to be all that Seol-Hee expected. She soon realizes that there is a history between her family and that of the regiment's leader, Lieutenant Kim Jeong-woong. In between the hilarious day to day antics of Seol-Hee's eccentric family and the hard realities of war, the attachment between Seol-Hee and Jeong-woong grows. As the occupation continues, Jeong-woong becomes torn between trying to follow the increasingly harsh orders from his general and protecting the people that he has come to love and care for so much.
A man and a woman meet by accident on a Sunday evening at their childrens' boarding school. Slowly they reveal themselves to each other, finding that each is a widow/widower. Each is slow to reveal anything personal so that each revelation is hidden by a misperception. They become friends, then close friends, and then she reveals that she can't have a lover because, for her, her husband's memory is still too strong. Much of the film is told wordlessly in action, or through hearing one of their thoughts as they go about their day.
Peking, 1948. A winter night. A man returns home to find a letter awaiting him written by a woman before her death. in the letter she tells him the story of her love for him -a life-long passion that has not diminished over time, but one that he has never known. her story spans 18 years from the moment she -then a 13 year-old girl- sets her eyes on her new neighbor. she tells their brief but passionate love in her youthi the hardship she goes through raising their child alone, and their final encounter after the war, during which the man fails tor ecognize her and one which leaves her in despair. Now having lost her son, she no longer has the courage to live on. Only in a letter is she capable of telling him everything, for the first and the last time. shaken by the letter, the man searches his memory for the nameless woman.
In a small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, the villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living off the earth and a few animals they feed. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. Yakup is in love with his teacher, and one day after seeing his father spying on the teacher he dreams too, like Ömer, of killing his father. Yıldız studies and tries to manage the household chores imposed by her mother. She learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.
Set in the underworld of Manhattan, Marked Woman tells the story of a woman who dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters. The women of the story are "hostesses". What is implied, but not stated clearly is that they are prostitutes, who work in a gambling den in the city.
The Monkey's Mask is a 2000 thriller film directed by Samantha Lang. It stars Susie Porter and Kelly McGillis. Porter plays a lesbian private detective who falls in love with a suspect (McGillis) in the disappearance of a young woman. The film is based on the verse novel of the same name by Australian poet Dorothy Porter.
A comedy/drama set in a village and centered on a battle of the sexes, where women threaten to withhold sexual favours as long as the men refuse to install a water pipe.
In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
Su-ok, a young teacher, moves into an isolated mountain village whose inhabitants are all related except for a mysterious dimwitted vagabond.
For no apparent reason, a mute young woman assaults a youth who delivers water on his bicycle, injuring him and ruining his bike. Surprisingly, she asks him to feed her fish while she is in custody. Her tiny apartment, he discovers, is a shrine to his favorite escape, the movies.
Laxmi lives a poor lifestyle in a small village in India along with her husband, Kishtaya, who is a deaf-mute. Both husband and wife work for the wealthy landlord. The landlord's son, Surya, has to cancel his studies and return home to look after the estate, as well as formalize his marriage to Saroj, the girl he was compelled to get married to when he was very young. Shortly thereafter Kishtaya is apprehended stealing toddy from the fields, is severely beaten, left senseless, and when he recovers he absconds, leaving Laxmi alone to fend for herself. Surya finds her attractive and starts an intimate relationship with her, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. Things only get worse when Saroj moves in to live with Surya - compelling him to make a final decision about a visibly pregnant Laxmi.
Panic attacks and memory loss signal the plight of a writer whose body is inexplicably being taken over by another woman.
A mysterious Inspector investigates the wealthy Birling family and their dinner guests following the suicide of a young woman.
Robert Duvall plays the club coach, Gordon McLeod. Jackie McQuillan (Ally McCoist) is the team's striker who has recently been signed from Arsenal. McQuillan is a legendary ex-Celtic (ironic given McCoist's iconic stature at Rangers) player as well as the coach's son-in-law, and has a reputation for being a troublesome player. The two men put their personal problems aside as they try to prevent the small fishing town of Kilnockie from losing its club, which is owned by an American (played by Michael Keaton) who wants to move the team to Dublin in Ireland.
Where are we welcome? On a quiet street in Helsinki, Sachie has opened a diner featuring rice balls. For a month she has no customers. Then, in short order, she has her first customer, meets Midori, a gangly Japanese tourist, and invites her to stay with her, and meets Masako, a formal and ethereal middle-aged woman whose luggage has gone missing. The three women work in the diner, interact, and serve customers. A somewhat brusque man teaches Sachie to make delicious coffee, then he returns under other circumstances. Three neighborhood women inspect the empty diner every day; will anything bring them inside? The number of customers gradually increases, but the diner seems to attract only those with problems. Conversation with Sachie and the tasty food seem to resolve people's woes. We learn why Sachie serves rice balls; but why Finland?
José Henrique Fonseca crafts an ambitious and long overdue homage to a central icon in Brazil’s 20th century history. Reminiscent of film noir classics, the biopic tells the glorious and tragic story of the legendary football striker Heleno de Freitas. The sumptuous black and white cinematography reflects the chic life of Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s as it fell under the spell of sports royalty. Heleno was no doubt one of the most popular players of his time for his bravura in the field and magnificent goal-scoring that lead the Botafogo team to the top and himself into a vicious downward spiral.
An illiterate and lonely man bonds with an older and well-read woman.
In a small North Carolina town, Paul, a womanizer, meets Noel, a confused intellectual returning home for the first time in years since she left for boarding school. The film depicts the typical romance of a good girl and a bad boy, in an interesting way.
A womanizer meets his match when he falls for the daughter of a gambling addict who is in debt to the mob.
John Slade is hired to rescue a journalist named Frank Morris from a Sandanista prison in Nicaragua. He teams with Marta, a local woman, to carry out this mission, but then he's captured, tortured, and forced to deal with the fact that he's been betrayed.
After indulging in an affair with a man (a friend of the family) she truly loves, a woman returns to her young son and husband for good, and loses contact with the man. Her husband is unaware of the affair. Twenty years later, there is news that the friend has died and left all of his money to the younger son in the family, which leads us to question this younger son's biological origin.
La Califfa's husband was killed during the strikes so she takes the side of the strikers. Her conflict with the plant owner Doverdo gradually turns into a love relationship.
Palo Alto weaves together three stories of teenage lust, boredom, and self-destruction: shy, sensitive April (Emma Roberts), torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach (James Franco) and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy (Jack Kilmer); Emily (Zoe Levin), who offers sexual favors to any boy to cross her path; and the increasingly dangerous exploits of Teddy and his best friend Fred (Nat Wolff), whose behavior may or may not be sociopathic.
Viola Johnson is in a real jam. Complications threaten her scheme to pose as her twin brother, Sebastian, and take his place at a new boarding school. She falls in love with her handsome roommate, Duke, who loves beautiful Olivia, who has fallen for Sebastian! As if that were not enough, Viola's twin returns from London ahead of schedule but has no idea that his sister has already replaced him on campus.
For Tobe, a nerdy, horny, frizzy-haired cineaste who doesn't quite fit in with the average contemporary teen, the pinnacle of womanhood is Monica Velour (Kim Cattrall), a soft-core actress who reached the zenith of her career in the 1980s. When Tobe learns that his love idol is headlining hundreds of miles away at the Gentlemen's Petting Zoo in Indiana, he drives off with carefree glory—in his grandfather's (Brian Dennehy) used Weinermobile, no less—filled with the hope of meeting her.

© Valossa 2015–2024