🏷 Discover The Best Working Class Movies & TV Shows To Watch Today

14 titles with this tag

Uncover the Realities of the Working Class through Cinema

The working class has long been a staple of cinematic storytelling, offering a glimpse into the lives of those who toil behind the scenes. From gritty dramas to heartwarming comedies, movies and TV shows have a way of putting a human face to the struggles and triumphs of everyday people. In this article, we'll delve into some of the best films and series that showcase the working class in all its complexity.

Cast

Ju00f8rgen Buckhu00f8j

Ghita Nu00f8rby

Holger Juul Hansen

Malene Schwartz

Matador (1978) TV Show

9.1 30 votes

Genre: Drama

Country: Denmark

Seasons: 4

Episodes: 24

Story: Matador is a Danish TV series produced and shown between 1978 and 1982. It is set in the fictional Danish town of Korsbæk between 1929 and 1947. It follows the lives of a range of characters from across the social spectrum, focusing specifically on the rivalry between the families of two businessmen: The banker Hans Christian Varnæs, an established local worthy, and social climber Mads Skjern, who arrives in town as the series opens. The name Matador was taken from the localised edition of the boardgame Monopoly, also the series' tentative English title. In addition, in contemporary Danish a "matador" is often used to describe a business tycoon, in the series referring to the character of Mads Skjern and his craftiness as a self-made entrepreneur.Directed by famed Danish film maker Erik Balling, Matador was the idea of author Lise Nørgaard who wrote the bulk of the episodes alongside Karen Smith, Jens Louis Petersen and Paul Hammerich. The series is one of the most well-known and popular examples of Danish television and represents the peak of longtime development of Danish TV drama by the public service channel Danmarks Radio.The series has become part of the modern self-understanding of Danes, partly because of its successful mix of melodrama and a distinct warm Danish humour in the depiction of characters, which were portrayed by a wide range of the most popular Danish actors at the time; but also not least because of its accurate portrayal of a turbulent Denmark from around the start of the Great Depression and through Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark in World War II.

Plot: bourgeoisie, working class, business, historical fiction, resistance fighter, family saga, provincial life, german occupation of denmark

Time: 1940s, 1930s

Place: denmark

Cast

Song Kang-ho

Lee Sun-kyun

Cho Yeo-jeong

Choi Woo-shik

Parasite (2019)

8.5 20.9K votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Country: South Korea

Duration: 133 min.

Audience: R

Story: All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Plot: dark comedy, con artist, social commentary, working class, infiltration, psychological thriller, class differences, family, ...

Place: south korea, seoul, south korea

Brassic (2019) TV Show

8.4 243 votes

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama

Country: United Kingdom

Seasons: 7

Episodes: 49

Audience: TV-MA

Story: A group of working-class friends finding unconventional ways to win at life in suburban northern England. These lads have dealt, scammed, bribed and conned their way through adolescence, but now, their dealing and stealing is catching up with them and a whole load of trouble is heading their way.

Plot: friends, dark comedy, working class, lancashire, grand

Only Fools and Horses (1981) TV Show

8.1 310 votes

Genre: Comedy

Country: United Kingdom

Seasons: 7

Episodes: 45

Story: Only Fools and Horses.... Is a British sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally transmitted on BBC One from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until 2003.In working-class Peckham in south-east London, ambitious market trader Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter and his younger half-brother Rodney, explore their highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich.Initially not an immediate hit and receiving little promotion early on, it later achieved consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time on Our Hands" (originally billed as the series finale) holds the record for the biggest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers. The series bears a significant influence on British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language.

Plot: london, england, flat, ambition, grandfather, van, brother, uncle, ...

Cast

Alain Delon

Renato Salvatori

Annie Girardot

Katina Paxinou

Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

8.0 665 votes

Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance

Country: France, Italy

Duration: 178 min.

Audience: NR

Story: When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.

Plot: work, prostitute, sibling relationship, parent child relationship, widow, boxer, love, tragedy, ...

Place: milan

Cast

Koji Yakusho

Tokio Emoto

Arisa Nakano

Aoi Yamada

Perfect Days (2023)

7.8 2.0K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: Germany, Japan

Duration: 124 min.

Audience: PG

Story: Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

Style: lighthearted

Plot: tree, routine, slice of life, janitor, working class, tokyo, japan, character study, ...

Cast

David Threlfall

Nicky Evans

Rebecca Atkinson

Tina Malone

Shameless (2004) TV Show

7.6 153 votes

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Seasons: 11

Episodes: 138

Audience: TV-MA

Story: The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.

Plot: sibling relationship, self-destruction, white trash, big family, northern england, dysfunctional family, dark comedy, sexual humor, ...

Place: manchester

Cast

Anna Paquin

Holliday Grainger

Emun Elliott

Steven Robertson

Tell It to the Bees (2019)

7.5 473 votes

Genre: Drama, Romance

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 106 min.

Audience: NR

Story: Dr. Jean Markham returns to the town she left as a teenager to take over her late father's medical practice. When a school-yard scuffle lands Charlie in her surgery, she invites him to visit the hives in her garden and tell his secrets to the bees, as she once did. The new friendship between the boy and the bee keeper brings his mother Lydia into Jean's world.

Plot: based on novel or book, lesbian relationship, working class, lgbt, woman director, failed marriage, beekeeper, lesbian

Time: 1950s

Place: scotland

Cast

Saoirse Ronan

Domhnall Gleeson

Emory Cohen

Jim Broadbent

Brooklyn (2015)

7.3 3.3K votes

Genre: Drama, History, Romance

Country: Canada, Ireland

Duration: 111 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: In 1950s Ireland and New York, young Eilis Lacey has to choose between two men and two countries.

Plot: ship, based on novel or book, love triangle, homesickness, marriage, community, working class, boarding house, ...

Time: 1950s

Place: ireland

Cast

Michael Moore

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Dr. Pasi Sahlberg

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Krista Kiuru

Ju00f3n Gnarr

Where to Invade Next (2015)

7.2 536 votes

Genre: Comedy, Documentary

Country: United States of America

Duration: 121 min.

Audience: R

Story: To understand firsthand what the United States of America can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully “invades” some to see what they have to offer.

Plot: politics, africa, revolution, europe, working class, inequality, political satire, welfare, ...

Place: france, germany, italy, ...

Cast

Jude Hill

Jamie Dornan

Caitru00edona Balfe

Lewis McAskie

Belfast (2021)

7.0 1.7K votes

Genre: Drama, History

Country: United Kingdom, Northern Ireland

Duration: 98 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: Buddy is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life.

Plot: working class, black and white, belfast, north ireland, the troubles (north ireland, 1966-98)

Time: 1960s

Blue Jasmine (2013)

7.0 3.7K votes

Genre: Drama

Country: United States of America

Duration: 99 min.

Audience: PG-13

Story: After experiencing a traumatic misfortune, Jasmine French, a wealthy woman from New York, moves to San Francisco to live with her foster sister Ginger and the firm purpose of getting a new life, but she will be haunted by anxiety and memories of the past.

Plot: new york city, husband wife relationship, sibling relationship, san francisco, california, narcissism, snob, mental breakdown, ...