L'Acier, la Sueur
Un fragment d'histoire de la Lorraine et de la sidérurgie
Patrice Grondard
1995 - 36 min - 35 mm - Couleur - France

The iron and steel industry and Lorraine have been linked for centuries. Men were instrumental in the development of both : some of them because they owned the production tool, others because they made the tool work. The iron and steel industry and the human labour force are two formidable and intimately linked forces yet they are antagonistic.
The identity of the men and Lorraine is linked with iron and steel ; their identity springs from the amalgamation of mineral and flesh, molten steel and sweat. If the industry disappears, the question of the very existence of this identity must be raised.
This film witnesses to the past and the present and asks questions about the future. It tries to be a tool for the memory of a working-class culture, linked with the iron and steel industry in Lorraine because for a long time to come this intertwined history will be exemplary.