Heroji radničke klase
Directed by:
Milos PusicCinematography:
Aleksandar RamadanovicComposer:
Jovan ObradovićCast:
Boris Isakovic, Jasna Đuričić, Stefan Beronja, Aleksandar Djurica, Mihajlo Pleskonjic, Filip Djuric, Predrag Momčilović, Bojana Milanović (more)Plots(1)
A developer receives an important job: to quickly get an empty site ready for its sale to a wealthy businessman. The role of mediator between the shady construction boss and his hired laborers is played by Lidija, a woman with a cold heart who oversees the construction process and covers up the poor working conditions. But the men decide to protest and time is running out. This angry social drama in the style of the Dardenne brothers exposes the dark side of the economic transition and the bending of moral values in a place where capitalism trumps ordinary human life. An explosive, universal film that slaps the viewer in the face with its punk aesthetic, subtle sense of satire, and elements of Greek tragedy. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Reviews (2)
Working Class Heroes is a kind of tragicomic probe into the (everyday?) life of Serbian workers and heartless developers. On the one hand, the film entertains with its straightforward setting of a construction site; on the other hand, it gives you chills, considering how a worker-developer confrontation can play out, and what the consequences can be. Of the characters, I was most interested in Lidija and Mali, but also in the Professor. The final third managed to both piss me off and delight me beyond belief. Karma is free!
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Through most of its runtime, this socially critical genre hybrid cuts between several themes and characters. It primarily points out the loopholes in the system in which various post-communist countries have become places where Western capitalist firms engage in nefarious activities. It does so by looking into the environment of construction workers illicitly working in dangerous conditions and their heartless employers, who exploit them while deceiving foreign developers. To connect these two worlds, the film uses the protagonist, a morally ambiguous executive manager who has long been trying to provide for her family and is the mistress of her real-estate broker boss, and she is pushed further and further beyond what she is willing to tolerate in her work. The film also jumps to the character of a simple-minded young man who is planning to move away with his girlfriend after his work as a laborer is finished. With bold satirical elements and an ironic title (and a few stumbles in the performances of various supporting actors), this realistic film begins as a social drama and ends as a thriller. In between, it is transformed several times into a black comedy in which lazy and drunken workers do everything they can to avoid having to work. The film thus comes up with several thought-provoking motifs, which in some cases are almost chilling, but it also takes almost until the final act to get its footing in those motifs, tie them all together and finally properly engage the audience.
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