Misery in Borinage (Misère au Borinage)

Famous documentary film about a strike and the misery of miners in the region of Borinage, an industrial area in Belgium that used to be one of the most important coal mining areas in Europe. Joris Ivens and Herny Storck made this semi-fictional propaganda film in 1932/33. In the summer of 1932, the strike lasted for two months and gets bloodily crushed. Fictional and documentary film parts flow into each other. The miners organize a demonstration for the film and carry a picture of Karl Marx at the front. This causes a police intervention. The police intervention is also filmed and becomes part of the film.