Social Issues and Movements in The Take Movie - Paper Example

The film The Take/La Toma revolves around thirty workers in Argentina striving to take control of a company that is running under bankruptcy protection. The company shuts down because of the economic policies instituted by the government of Carlos Menem. The thirty workers try to restart their dead careers by forming a group and following what others are doing across the country (Klein). They successfully start a cooperative business in a dead factory where they used to work. However, they continuously face opposing forces from the previous owners of the company, the government as well as the police (Klein). On the positive side, they get help from other experienced groups who help them secure their right to operate the firm.

The most obvious social issue in the film is the collapsing economy of the country as a result of the new policy reforms. As the movie begins, the first evident thing is the fact that the companies are struggling to keep up with the deteriorated economy as many continue to shut down. It results in the companies taking adverse measures and laying off most of the employees. The other social issue that the movie highlights is a democracy. The workers come together to start a company from a plant that already closed down. However, in these attempts, they face opposition from the previous owners of the company, the government as well as the police force. The main reason for this that the instated policy aims at oppressing people and by the decision that is in progress for self-empowerment, then the government will not have much control over the affected middle class. The idea promoted by the government of Carlos Menem is communism which seeks to eliminate private ownership of properties in the country. It is because of these reasons that the workers decide to create a movement in the form of a union.

The movement highlighted in the film The Take/La Toma is labor movements formed by the workers who strive to fight against communism. Social movements have been a common thing in Latin America since the advent of the industrial revolution (Munck 138). As a result, this gave birth to trade unions. In the film, the main reason why the thirty workers decide to start a labor movement is that of the prevailing communism and as a means of fighting for the agenda of the group. This group is a form of new unionism. The aim of new unionism as evident in Latin America was to defend the economic and democratic rights of the workers as well as for socialism (Munck 141). The government and the rich in the film never wanted the workers to grow economically, and in a general sense, this is the absence of democracy in the country since only particular groups of people had the freedom to control the economic construct. The result of this was strikes across the country and protests from the thirty workers later joined by the established labor movements across the country. These protests and trade unions aimed at giving the workers a voice and right to also take part in the economy of the country by establishing their own business that can sustain them during the financial crisis. This can also be known as nationalism where there is an equal distribution of democracy across all classes, especially in when it comes to the economic systems of a country.

Work Cited

Klein, N. (2004). The Take. Canada: First Run Features / Icarus Films.

Munck, R. (2003). Contemporary Latin America (3rd ed.). Chichester: Zed Books Limited.