In the 1999 film, Cradle Will Rock, directed by Tim Robbins, the actor Ruben Blades portrays the Mexican artist Diego Rivera, John Cusack plays the wealthy art patron Nelson Rockefeller, and Susan Sarandon a wealthy Italian woman. The film includes a brief recreation of the controversy surrounding the Rockefeller Center mural, Man at the Crossroads, discussed in Chapter 4.
View this clip from the film. This short scene includes a dialogue between Rivera and an Italian patron and friend:
In the mural, what do you see that are common themes in Rivera’s art and political views?
If you were in Rockefeller’s position, would you have the mural destroyed? Why or why not?
