No wonder the tussles and tension between labor and management seem so
real in the French film "Human Resources," now at Loews Waterfront as part
of its Shooting Gallery series.
The people playing the roles are not actors, they are actual union
leaders or company bosses. The filmmakers recruited nonprofessionals from
unemployment agencies for all of the roles except one -- a business school
student named Frank (Jalil Lespert). He gets an internship in the human
resources department of the factory where his blue-collar father has
worked for 30 years.
When Frank returns home from Paris, his parents are bursting with pride
about his stint as a trainee. Frank and his father (Jean-Claude Vallod)
walk to work, where the dad shares his routine. He and his friends arrive
15 minutes early, have coffee, tell a few jokes and then head to their
lockers and machines on the factory floor.
Frank, clad in a handsome suit, works with the bosses in human
resources, where the goal is to secure a 35-hour work week. A union
firebrand named Mrs. Arnoux (Danielle Melador) suspects this is just
another company ploy to cut benefits and pay. The proposed change is
coming on the heels of 22 layoffs the previous year.
"No more sacrifices," she declares, although a cooler-headed union
representative says workers would favor a reduced week if it meant the
creation of jobs and better working conditions. Frank, relying on a case
he studied in school, suggests to management that the bosses survey the
workers about the reduced week.
Although Frank finds himself increasingly alienated from old friends,
including one who accuses him of being a snob, he believes in the changes
and his alliance with management. The boss even mentions a permanent job
with another factory, but then Frank stumbles across a company memo about
intended changes.
This secret missive is like a stick of dynamite as it explodes in the
face of Frank, his father, other family members and plant employees. It
peels away the surface skin and exposes long-buried feelings and
frustrations, especially on the part of dangerously impulsive Frank. The
explosion leaves scars, some of which appear permanent.
"Human Resources" ends, literally and figuratively, with a question.
The conclusion, while thought-provoking, is also abrupt. Too abrupt. It's
natural to crave some sort of resolution to the turmoil we've just
witnessed on the home and factory fronts.
Still, this subtitled film directed and co-written by Laurent Cantet
brings authenticity to its setting and subject matter. An illuminating
moment comes when a man recalls his first day of work on the factory
floor. Clad in blue coveralls, covered in grease and bending over a
machine in a noisy, cavernous building, he thought, "Jesus, this is hell."
But then he spotted Frank's dad, and watching the veteran cope helped him
to cope, too.
It's a rare movie in the year 2000 that celebrates the working men and
women who toil in factories and the white-collar aspirations they may have
for their children. It's also a rare movie that examines the delicate
dance of those who manage hourly workers one day and try to be one of them
the next. It's a dance that requires an emotional dexterity not everyone
possesses.
From www.post-gazette.com
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