Priest Daens (1992)
In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
This movie shows how life was in the late 19th century. I come from Aalst and Daens was and still is a highly respected priest who cared for the poor and who wasn't afraid of those rich mother******* and the corrupt, pathetic (it still is) church.Together with his brother he faced and defeated the rich. He helped the poor people and got them the right to vote. In his quest he the pope and all who were against him eventually took away his rights as a priest. Daens continued to help the poor, and became the voice of the people in the parliament. He was a good man who stood up for the poor. The movie itself gives a very good look how people worked their asses of for only a few CENTS.
"Daens" is a film about a priest, Adolf Daens, in Flanders in the 19th century. He feels pity for the workers, the terrible conditions they have to work and live in. The work they do in the factories is dangerous and their salaries low.Daens tries to help the workers but the mighty director of the factory and the church officials try to stop him. With an alliance of socialists, liberals and Roman catholics, Daens succeeds in becoming elected for the Belgian parliament. He continues his fight against the injustice in Flanders but the pressure on him accumulates...
The priest Daens (Jan Decleir) and his political master Charles Woeste (Gérard Desarthe) are opposing each other in this historical movie. Daens is a strong priest, convinced of his rightfulness to protect the workers. In the movie everything is worked out in detail and you can easily identify with the characters. The music is not so good and a little bit soft but the dramatic script keeps our attention until the end.
This is definitely the best movie ever made by a Belgian director, Stijn Coninx. Nominated for best foreign movie but alas no Oscar. During the film you will see children working on weaving machines. Children had their hands cut and young girls were brutalized or raped. Some died. This is no fiction. Coninx had to go to Poland to film where he found the exact machines still in use there which where employed 50 or 100 years ago in Belgium; on this point I'm not sure. While filming in Poland, children were still abused in long working hours,(1992)and begging for food from the crew.In comparison to Schindler's list I gave Daens 9 points versus 1 for Schindler. I saw this movie at least 7 times. To tell you the truth I dragged all my friends to see this movie on full screen. They were all in awe, nobody complained, on each occasion we needed a brandy to recuperate :-) This is the first movie I saw men weep.