User Reviews

I loved this documentary on HBO. It gives us a description of various peoples' ancestors who either survived or who were killed in this horrific fire. It is balanced in its presentation, in the sense it does not get political.

I would definitely watch this more than once. Make sure you have tissues handy since it is very sad. I follow this historical event, since my great grandfather worked for the city morgue in 1911. He told other family members stories about being there to take the deceased to the charity piers.

If you want to know more, read the book triangle the fire that changed America. It gives a deeper picture of the 1909 strikes, fire and its aftermath.

Outstanding documentary where descendants of the victims and survivors of the Triangle Shirt Waist fire were interviewed among the pictures of the horror of the March 25, 1911 inferno which set a total change in course involving government intervention in the protection of workers in the workplace.

The governor and legislature of Wisconsin, and the Tea Party right wing lunatics should be made to view this documentary. What they are advocating would send the working people back to factory conditions that existed before this tragic fire.

Imagine that the owners of the factory Harris and Blanck were found not guilty of creating such hazardous conditions in the workplace that allowed for the tragedy to occur.

How ironic that a 1909 strike of garment workers had basically failed to produce safety and protection of workers in the workplace. It had to take such a tragedy such as this for government to get involved. Special kudos to Al Smith, Robert Wagner and Frances Perkins for their efforts in the commission that was set up following the inferno.

As we prepare to remember this tragic event on its 100th anniversary, we cannot go back to conditions that existed. Government will always have to be involved. It's not just about the wealthy.

HBO's "Triangle: Remembering the Fire" is an American 40-minute documentary short film from 2011, so this one had its 5th anniversary last year. It was written and directed by Emmy winner Daphne Pinkerson and narrated by 2-time Emmy-nominated actress Tovah Feldshuh. I think given the subject, it was a good choice to pick a female narrator and she did a decent job overall. This is the story of a New York tragedy from over a century ago and it is one that has been forgotten by many. I here in Germany have probably never come across it at all, so it is good that Pinkerson brought it back to our attention recently. It is about a huge fire that happened in a high New York building and killed almost 150 people in there, most of them female workers. We find out about the reasons for the fire, the details of the tragedy, the search for those responsible, but also about the historic impact it had in terms of how laws were changed in favor of workers afterward. This development is evidence of how these poor women did not die for nothing and why America is such a great country that they used this terrible tragedy to bring improvement to future generations.

It was a good and interesting watch overall I would say with many photos from the old days that added a lot to the difficult endeavor of taking us 100 years back. But I must also say that something here was missing for me to really get as emotionally involved here as I hoped I would. I guess awards bodies were feeling the same as they did not hand this film the recognition you'd expect given the subject. I totally think this could have been an Oscar nominee, maybe even winner. One thing I did not like too much is how they interviewed great-grandchildren etc. of the victims because honestly they had very little to add and obviously their grief was not too accurate either as they frequently did not even know the victims personally, even if they were family. So yeah maybe it would have been a better watch at 30 minutes and with more interviews with historians or no interviews at all. Still, I think there is definitely more strong than weak in this one here, but I also can't stop thinking that this could have been even better and that the greatness that was possible here had not been achieved. Nonetheless, go see it as it is definitely on the underseen side, especially if you have a strong connection to the city of New York.