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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Daens is a 1992 Belgian period drama film directed by Stijn Coninx and based on a novel by Louis Paul Boon. The film stars Jan Decleir, Gérard Desarthe, Antje de Boeck, and Michael Pas, and recounts the real-life story of Adolf Daens, a Catholic priest in Aalst who strives to improve the miserable working conditions in the local factories. It received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992.
