A Movie Review

Germinal

By Claude Berri

1. How do you interpret this title? How is it illustrated in the movie and book?

I wonder how long it took Emile Zola to come up with the title Germinal? Did he write the novel first and come up with the title later? Or, did he like the word Germinal and wrote his story around the life cycle of changes in Union Organizing

The definition of Germinal means “something that initializes development or serves as original”, “…being at the earliest stages of development.” Some synonyms would be fountainhead, seed, original or root.

To me, the story was not simply the story of the birth of Unions in Industrial France, but also the humanity and interrelationships of the characters.

Yes, the story shows us the lifecycle of how change occurs when large businesses, in their relentless pursuit of profits, exploit workers and the struggles they must overcome.

For example, in the beginnings of the movie we see the characters going about their daily routine of arising in the morning and going off to work. As the movie progresses we observe the slow build up of rage, resentment, and anger as the coal mine operators reduce the pay for each cart load of coal. This action is compounded by the petty fines of more money that are assessed to the workers for improper construction of the support beams.

Throughout the banality and depressing working conditions of the mine, where old men, women, and children equally toil in the dark, hot, dirty bowels of the earth, we see other emotions as well.

For example, there is love, jealousy, envy, and murder. We see the love of Mahew’s family as he kisses his children and makes love to his wife standing up in the kitchen. We see one of the minors, who loves Catherine, become jealous of the mysterious, quiet union organizer, Eittien. We see the utter desperation and rage by the women of the town who shout, “Give us bread”, as they rage at the storekeeper. In their frenzy, they violate his body, after he falls from the roof and dies in the street. The women punch and kick him and castrate him, while holding aloft his penis as a gesture of victory. The movie shows how ordinary, loving, and kind people can do insane things when desperation overcomes them. 

The seeds of change in the mining industry come about by the blood of minors who gave their life to make positive changes for the workers in the mine. 

2. How is society portrayed in the film Germinal? Do you think that surroundings mold the characters, like the naturalist believe?

Society was pretty bleak in the movie. It shows the division of classes with the coalmine owner’s family dressing in expensive clothes, being tended to by butlers, chauffeurs, and cooks. Their days spent idly planning parties and enjoying life, meanwhile, the lives of workers are filled with struggle and a “hand to mouth” existence. Any small interruption in work impacts a household’s income, like when one of Mahew’s sons was injured, or when another son marries, losing both those incomes.

Despite the harsh working conditions, we see the town folk still enjoying life as in the scene of the street fair, we still see love, kindness and generosity. As poor as Mahew’s household was, they still invited Eittiene to live and eat with them when he first arrived and had no money.

So even though the environment perpetuated a “me only” attitude with desperate challenging issues, the townsfolk for the most part retained their humanity towards one another. 

3. How is the notion of social justice presented?

The striking miners were not interested in destroying the mine or even begrudge the owners for their profits. They wanted a fair and decent percent of the coal loads. It was not until the owners started to penalize them for petty infractions and also paying them less per load that the outrage began to ferment.

However, it was the “anarchist” in the cafe who always preached a total breakdown of order and advocated destroying the mine.

In fact, he was tolerated and dismissed as too harsh, in favor of a strong union that would help workers get a good wage. It was not until events escalated and the workers became desperate, that they got caught up in frenzy and marched from mine to mine and began destroying the infrastructure.

The workers did not know that it was the anarchist who started it all by sabotage. Not to help the unions, but to satisfy his own desire for chaos.

Even with their deplorable working conditions, the minors idea of social justice was in the sense of wanting a fair wage, for a day’s work, not the complete destruction of the mine.

4. Why is Germinal studied in a Modern France course?

Germinal is studied in a modern France course because it is still relevant today.

In fact, last spring, France experienced a countrywide strike that paralyzed the cities transportation systems. Workers were striking because of a desire for better working conditions , and no reduction in pensions or a higher retirement age.

It is instructive also, to show that before unions existed the workers were at the mercy of the business owners. Ironically, some behemoth unions have the power to now to hold a country hostage and paralyze a city if their needs are not met. Also, the past will repeat itself if the lessons are not learned. A reminder of how life was in the early years of the industrialization of France..