The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education and the Socialist Project presents “Cradle Will Rock” as the next movie shown in our ongoing FilmSocial series.
It’s 1937 in New York City. Labour strikes break out throughout the country and New York is alive with cultural revolution. Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) commissions Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint the lobby of Rockefeller Center, while Italian propagandist Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon) sells Da Vincis to fund the Mussolini war effort. Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) is directing the musical The Cradle Will Rock, which is under threat of being shut down by the House Committee on Un-American Activities for being sympathetic to communism.
“Cradle Will Rock” is a 1999 historical drama, written, produced and directed by Tim Robbins. The film dramatizes the development of the 1937 musical “The Cradle Will Rock” by Marx Blitzstein and the events surrounding it. It explores the role of art, power, and politics in the 1930s against the backdrop of the labour movement struggle and the increased appeal of socialism.
Following the film, there will be an open discussion on the broader context of the film and some of the key questions raised by it.