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“All this reminds me of something that sometimes we forget. We have always got more strength than we realize, always.” –Ben By taking its name from a slogan used by striking textile workers in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1912, Bread and Roses sets itself up as an unequivocally pro-union film. It is part of a larger pattern in Ken Loach’s oeuvre to depict in sympathetic fashion the struggles of politically helpless groups against hegemonic forces. Set in Los Angeles during the Justice for Janitors campaign of the 1990s, Bread and Roses takes up the cause of a group of janitors, most of whom are immigrants and women, who work for Angel Cleaning Company in a major building in downtown Los Angeles. The action revolves around the lives of two sisters, Maya and Rosa (played by Pilar Padilla and Elpidia Carrillo respectively). After Maya crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and narrowly escapes from the coyote before he can extract payment in the form of forced sex, she is finally reunited with Rosa. Upon Maya’s insisting, Rosa agrees to set her up with a job working as a janitor for Angel Cleaning Company. The trouble begins when activist Sam Shapiro (Adrien Brody) appears on the scene one night while Maya is cleaning. Along with providing some much needed comic relief, Sam’s entry into the lives of these sisters brings complication as he begins to foment among the workers at Angel, attempting to help them form a union and demand better treatment. By this time Maya has already shown herself to be clever and resilient, so it is easy to understand why she would become taken with Sam as someone charismatic and willing to help her and her colleagues obtain fair wages and benefits. Rosa is another story. Based on her own experience, which we learn about later in her gut-wrenching argument with Maya, Rosa quips, “I trust nobody… I believe in nothing, no one, nada.” And so Sam and Maya must fight to convince Rosa and all those who are like-minded working at Angel. But these workers must carefully weigh their actions and the potential risks. However, once they do eventually rally enough support and begin to believe the slogan—“Sí se puede.” [Yes, we can do it.]—things begin to change.
It is a point that Mr. Loach makes loud and clear throughout the film. The film, in fact, often feels didactic in its quest to educate the spectator about the plight of non-unionized, unskilled workers, be they illegal immigrants or not. To this end the film proffers plenty of factual information, such as the deal offered to janitors of Los Angeles in 1982 in comparison to the minimum wage / no benefits deal received by the janitors working for Angel. Adding to the film’s didacticism is the fact that it is shot in a very straight forward, almost anti-artistic manner, one that we might well be called docu-drama. Some scenes linger for far too long, but this is not entirely negative. In fact, what these scenes do is create a space for extended interaction between actors, thereby generating a sense of authenticity and placing the focus squarely on the panoply of workers and their (individual) plights.
The flip side of Bread and Roses’ proposal has to do with the legality of Maya’s situation in the first place. Dealing as it does with divisive issues of illegal immigration and unionization within the current context of Southern California, Bread and Roses is bound to cause some viewers to squirm in their seats. Are we to feel pity for someone who breaks the law and subsequently finds herself in inauspicious circumstances? It is a question that is intentionally left unanswered, and rightfully so.
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Making the Invisible, Visible
Early in the film, Ruben (Alonso Chavez), another immigrant janitor who incidentally has managed to crack the U.S. educational system and is on the verge of entering law school, remarks: “¿Ya te dije la historia acerca de los uniformes? Nos hacen invisibles.” [Did I tell you my theory about these uniforms? They make us invisible.] It is a comment that goes to the core of what the film is trying to do – make the invisible visible. Ostensibly, Mr. Loach aims to bring to consciousness an oft ignored dichotomy that exists in Los Angeles between those who work in the buildings during the day and those who work throughout the entire night for a fraction of the price. 
This focus on humanity is one of the film’s strongest qualities. There is certainly an emphasis on Maya, Rosa, and Sam as the main protagonists, but what comes through loud and clear is that they are certainly not alone. There are several others, conceivably thousands, in the film who are in exactly the same position, yet none of these characters can rise up alone. It requires a collective effort and solidarity, and it is this that makes the film most interesting. It seems that a hero should always be above average in height, a loner, and seemingly invincible; however, all of the janitors working for Angel, Maya included, appear entirely fragile throughout the film. Likewise, the film does not track a battle between opposing nations that is to be fought with fists and technology. Life, in the physiological sense, is not immediately in peril, but there is nevertheless a great deal of risk involved. As a group of workers who live basically hand-to-mouth, many of whom send most of what they earn to relatives in other countries, the prospect of losing even a week’s worth of wages may be an insurmountable setback. And so, as Sam points out, what they attempt requires a great deal of personal courage, even if it does rest on the shoulders of many.