'Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory (1895)' is exactly what it says on the tin. It's, essentially, a window into the past, a glimpse at a crowd of people, each with lives as intricate as our own, who lived over 125 years ago. Apparently, this was one of the very first films to be publicly shown, so its importance is pretty much impossible to overstate. Without this, we arguably wouldn't have any of the films that followed (though one could posit that someone would have invented cinema eventually regardless). It's refreshing, too, that such an important piece of cinema is entirely devoid of any problematic elements; there's no need to use its importance as a defence against, for example, racism. It's just a nice, simple short film depicting a ton of people leaving a building, their clothing and attitudes offering just a hint of the differing personalities on display. It has a certain charm to it and is practically a must of fans of cinema. Having said all that, it isn't exactly entertaining in the traditional sense. 6/10.
Review of Leaving the Factory
