Crucible

Filmmaker and novelist Sayles (To Save the Man) brings the lives of Brazilian and American workers into focus in this sprawling panorama of the Ford Motor Company between the 1920s and ’40s. On the eve of the Great Depression, Henry Ford launches a scheme to grow his own rubber on a massive plantation in the Brazilian rainforest called Fordlandia. A local rubber tapper named João is hired to work in Fordlandia, where he and his family encounter an American family whose father, Jim, has been sent by the company to manage the clearing of the land. As work on the plantation gets underway, blight attacks the rubber trees, workers revolt, and João’s son, Flavio, begins a forbidden romance with Jim’s daughter, Kerry. Meanwhile, in Michigan, a multiethnic group of workers struggles against the indignities of life in the Ford factories, culminating in an explosive wildcat strike at the Rouge, Ford’s main production complex. The narrative contains a profusion of subplots, including Prohibition-era bootlegging and Diego Rivera’s mural-making at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Despite some heavy-handed political messaging, Sayles offers a propulsive view into the era’s rapacious capitalism and rapid social changes. This textured tale will resonate with readers concerned about workers’ rights and corporate greed. Agent: Anthony Arnove, ROAM. (Jan.)