Germinal

Germinal is a 1913 black and white silent French language French film written and directed by Albert Capellani. It was released in the United States in 1914 as Germinal; or, The Toll of Labor. It is an adaptation of the 1885 novel Germinal by Emile Zola. With a running time of 140 minutes, it is one of the first films produced with a length of over two hours.

The year is 1863. Étienne Lantier gets work as a mineworker after having been fired from his job on the railroad for revolutionary behavior. Disheartened by the conditions in the mines, he returns to his revolutionary ideas and leads a strike of the mineworkers. Soldiers are brought in to quell the strike.