Links to Day Without Immigrants

By Margot Thomas

WITH  the earlier publication of  an article by  John Steinbeck fan and researcher Stephen Cooper on “ In Dubious Battle”  it seems timely to take a look at the film version, with fingers crossed that it will hit the screens in Panama,

The star-studded John Franco rendition of the 1936 Steinbeck novel of the same name has was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year, which introduces a  Panama link as our own festival, IFF, was originally spearheaded by TIFF founder Henk Van Der Kolk.

The plot highlights the great divide between workers in the Great Depression and  the rich and powerful.

At least one critic  writes  that it  brings to mind   “the current greater divides in the USA  between the working class and the President of the United States than when the film premiered at Toronto last year (which is not meant as a political statement, just a fact, and not an alternative one). “and it undeniably plays differently in the wake of anti-Trump worker protests A Day Without Immigrants”

“In Dubious Battle” is the story of the working class during the Depression, striking against an increasingly cruel establishment in ways that would lead to the formation of workers’ rights. Franco fills his ensemble with recognizable faces, many of whom give great one-or-two-scene performances. Most notably, Vincent D’Onofrio shines as London, a reticent leader to his people, and a negotiation scene between him and Robert Duvall as Bolton, the voice of the establishment, is the highlight of the film. As a director, Franco lets his veterans do that which they do best. So, D’Onofrio, Duvall, Sam Shepard, and Ed Harris give magnetic, lived-in performances. For the record, Franco himself is very good here as well.