AP: Movie spotlights closing of GM plant

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090822/MONEY/708229962

Published Saturday August 22, 2009

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Hundreds of autoworkers who lost their jobs when General Motors closed an Ohio sport utility vehicle plant cheered and cried Wednesday at a screening of a documentary that profiles their lives in the plant's final days.

Before the screening, workers admired the final vehicle produced at their plant: a white GMC Envoy, parked on the sidewalk outside the Schuster Performing Arts Center here.

Workers then streamed inside to watch “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant.” The 40-minute documentary is scheduled to debut on HBO on Labor Day.

About 1,600 GM workers and their families attended the screening, and an additional 900 people filled the theater.

Many of the workers, casually dressed in jeans, T-shirts, ballcaps and tennis shoes, picked up free bags of popcorn and chilled bottled water in the lobby.

“Some of you have told us this has been the hardest year of your life,” co-producer Steven Bognar told the crowd before the screening.

FULL story at link.