No God, No Master

So Many Historical Headlines to Cover, so Little Time, and so Little Money to make the Movie. The Story of Palmer's Raids, the Attorney General's Attempt in 1919 to Mass Deport Thousands of Immigrants before such a Thing was made Illegal, is a Story that is just too Enormous to Tell in Ninety Minutes.

Add to that the Backstory of Fat Cat Indifference and down right Worker Oppression is Given some Screen Time but again is Light on Detail and Heavy of Speechifying.

But if this Little Movie can do Anything it can Draw Attention to a somewhat Forgotten Time and Place in America's Early Twentieth Century History and might Propel Folks to do some Research.

The Subject matter and the Situation has Not Lost any of its Relevance and can be Seen as a Mirror to Things that matter just as Much Today. It is an Engrossing Story and is Played Well enough to Entertain as well as Enlighten.

This was a Time when Workers were Definitely Exploited and Sought Collective Bargaining. It Must Also be Said that the Workers were Being Exploited from All Sides and there was Blood on Everybody's Hands.

Worth a Watch for its Historical Relevance and as a Primer for more Investigation into the Struggles of the Time and a Sordid Situation that can Never be Forgotten, Lest We Repeat. Oh, Wait, We Have. So that makes this Movie even more Important.

As I've read this film was made in 2009 and coundn't found a distributor for a longer time, a five years. It's not surprising at all, because it shows the system how it was, and actually how it is today. Also, it shows the historical figures of USA, as were J. Edgar Hoover and Mitchell Palmer, and the real picture of the Democratic Party, mostly financially supported by Rockefeller. At the end we can read conclusion what happened and what are some intentions to be done, and to be honest, it makes sense. David Strathairn's portrayal of anarchy fighting detective, William J. Flynn, is good, but for that role it would be better that he got some weight.

Obviously this movie is made by someone with a great love for the Italian community, or rather what was the Italian community during the years of emigration in early 20th century, who are now integrated citizens and part of the USA. Just like the Irish, who came before. And everybody else, who followed.

The USA is founded on emigration. On people coming to USA to seek their fortune and thus providing the labour, on which the modern age was build. That's a lot of eyes, but unfortunately the stories told from those days are mostly the same, and in the same historic perspective.

This movie narrows the focus to depict a fragment of the battle to define exactly what democracy is - and who gets to define it. Labour unions are at the forefront of this battle, recognising the oppression that makes a few people very rich and powerful enough to bend the government. For example the banker J.D. Rockefeller, who was able to call in national guards to terrorize and kill his striking miners, who were kept under slave-like conditions.

One can never see the whole of a story, without losing important details. But "No God, no master" manages very well, I believe, to show how both the powerful and the powerless are only just people, and how bridges of understanding can be build through simple acts of diligence and kindness.

Besides being presented with a less knows aspect of the story of how the nation was build, I loved the feeling of being "back then". Indie movies can't recreate and build fake streets, but rather than resorting to CGI like many Indie movies (and over-funded movies too - neither with quite satisfactory results) No God, No master makes do with camera angles, select streets and plain good storytelling in frames to create the illusion of streets from a 100 years ago.

My only critique was a tendency to take "tension music" right to the edge. I would say this was unnecessary as the plot was sufficient to keep me interested and leaning forward.

All in all a decent movie I have no problems recommending. 7/10 for just making a good movie.

This movie started off with a bang , and we have crack FBI agent Flynn investigating a bomb in 1920 New England. Strathairn is always fun to watch, and is utterly convincing, but why he took this insulting script is beyond me. The film quickly devolves into "big bad businessmen vs little immigrant worker" propaganda of the sappiest kind. Set pieces and the lead character's side romance with his neighbor Conchetta (the Irish gets together with the Italians)are fine, as is the casting (with the exception of Flynn's young wooden protege, also an "Italiano"). The direction and pacing are also good. The film bravely insinuates (in)famous anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Sacco and Vanzetti. But the script moves away from detectivework and finding the culprits (there is very little detail given, to preaching about the dangers of nativism, and treats the anarchists as one-dimensional heroes, instead of the violent murderers they very possibly were, which I found insulting and spoiled the movie.

Don't expect a detective movie; expect a cringey sermon.

This is not an action pack movie. It is somewhat of a documentary of a part of history. History is not pretty and laced with the making of a star studded movie. I haven't really seen much about the Italian heritage. It is interesting to see what the early immigrants had to go through. There were spots in the movie that were a bit slow and could have had improvement. But I am sure the movie was made to explain history. I live in Milwaukee where much of the film was made. It was fun watching it from a distant. I remember that summer. The actors were lucky we had such nice weather. Around here the seasons are pretty erratic. I talked to one of the stagehands and it was interesting. Glad I finally got a chance to see it. I have been looking for it ever since I viewed it being made. David Stratharin is a great actor. I feel he hasn't gotten the praise that he should get. I have seen him in many movies. Again he did a great job in this movie making it believable. I really like Sam Witwer and think he will be a good actor. Love him in "Human Beings."