All of Europe was affected by the Great Depression of the 1930s, but some parts were hurt less badly than others. France, for instance, was relatively prosperous. In this grim drama, a sturdy Polish boxer and his family have settled into a mining town in northern France because that's where the work is. Like European "guest workers" in the 1990s, the Polish immigrants then were frequently treated badly by the locals. In this drama, the romantic aspirations of the boxer's son are thwarted by the concerted efforts of the local men and his own family's preference that he marry another Polish girl. After his romance fails, the son becomes a union activist and sacrifices a great deal to try to gain higher wages for the miners, but the contract he works out is reneged on by the duplicitous owners.
Acting
Maruschka Detmers brings devastating restraint to doomed love.
Production
Suffocating 1930s mining town recreated with unflinching detail.
Director
Eric Barbier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film mirrors real 1930s Polish immigration to France's Nord-Pas-de-Calais mining basin, where xenophobic violence and labor exploitation were rampant. Director Barbier spent years researching oral histories.
The boxing ring scenes were shot in an actual preserved 1920s arena near Lens, with local miners' descendants as extras—some wearing their grandfathers' authentic work clothes.
FR
