''The Working Class Goes to Heaven'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: ''La classe operaia va in paradiso''), released in the US as ''Lulu the Tool'', is a 1971
political drama
A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events.
Dramatists who have written political dramas i ...
film directed by
Elio Petri
Eraclio Petri (29 January 1929 – 10 November 1982), commonly known as Elio Petri, was an Italian film director, screenwriter, theatre director, and critic associated with the political cinema in the 1960s and '70s. His film ''Investigat ...
. It depicts a factory worker's realisation of his own condition as a simple "tool" in the process of production and, implicitly, his struggle with the
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s.
The film competed at the
1972 Cannes Film Festival
The 25th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 4 to 19 May 1972. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian films ''The Working Class Goes to Heaven'' by Elio Petri and '' The Mattei Affair'' by Francesco Rosi.
The festival opened with the French fi ...
, where it tied with ''
The Mattei Affair
''The Mattei Affair'' ( it, Il Caso Mattei) is a 1972 film directed by Francesco Rosi. It depicts the life and mysterious death of Enrico Mattei, an Italian businessman who in the aftermath of World War II managed to avoid the sale of the nascent ...
'' for the
Grand Prix International du Festival, the festival's highest honour. In Italy, it also won the
David di Donatello for Best Film
The David di Donatello Award for Best Film (Italian: ''David di Donatello per il miglior film'') is one of the David di Donatello awards presented annually by the Accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI). The award recognizes the most outstanding Ital ...
.
Plot
Lulu Massa is a highly productive worker at a factory paying
piece work
Piece work (or piecework) is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time.
Context
When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of ...
but is disliked by his colleagues as his efficiency is used by management to justify their demands for higher output. While employees are told to care for and rely on their machines, they see radical students outside the factory campaigning for higher pay rates and less work. Lulu lives with Lidia and her son. He puts his lack of interest in sex with her down to the pressures of the job.
Lulu loses a finger in a
work accident
A work accident, workplace accident, occupational accident, or accident at work is a "discrete occurrence in the course of work" leading to physical or mental occupational injury. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), more tha ...
, which the workers blame on the faster times. Shocked, he adopts the students' analysis and takes
strike action to end piece work, against the unions' policy, which is for simply an increase in piece work rates.
Lulu pursues an affair with a female co-worker but finds that having sex with her in an automobile is difficult. Lidia, unhappy with his new
far left sympathies, moves out with her son, who cries, but is told that Lulu never really cared for him, and reminded that Lulu would slap him occasionally.
When the employees go back to work, Lulu is fired for promoting the students' extremist views. Lidia and her boy return to the apartment, to find that Lulu has destroyed their inflatable
Scrooge McDuck doll.
Syndicalists arrive to inform Lulu that they have agreed a deal with the employers on work regulations and won Lulu's job back.
Cast
Production
The film was shot in a factory in
Novara
Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...
, Piedmont, with many of its personnel serving as
extras in the film.
Reception
In ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', A.H. Weiler reviewed the film under its U.S. release title ''Lulu the Tool'', calling it "both fascinating and sobering".
In ''
Film Quarterly
''Film Quarterly'', a journal devoted to the study of film, television, and visual media, is published by University of California Press. It publishes scholarly analyses of international and Hollywood cinema as well as independent film, including d ...
'', James Roy MacBean compared ''The Working Class Goes to Heaven'' to the prison drama ''
The Brig'' in a "jarringly abrasive" portrayal of factory work and the quote "The factory is a prison".
Clarke Fountain, for ''
New York'', said it rose above the level of a
propaganda film
A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...
, and deserved a place in
Elio Petri
Eraclio Petri (29 January 1929 – 10 November 1982), commonly known as Elio Petri, was an Italian film director, screenwriter, theatre director, and critic associated with the political cinema in the 1960s and '70s. His film ''Investigat ...
's canon along with his 1970 ''
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
''Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion'' ( it, Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) is a 1970 Italian crime drama film directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan. It is a psychological, bla ...
''. However, in 1986 author Mira Liehm referred to it as a "weaker" Petri film, and "heavy-handed". In his ''2015 Movie Guide'',
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...
gave it three stars, declaring it a "Superbly directed, thought-provoking critique of capitalism".
Accolades
At Cannes, the film shared the Grand Prix International du Festival, the equivalent of the ''
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
'' of later years,
with ''
The Mattei Affair
''The Mattei Affair'' ( it, Il Caso Mattei) is a 1972 film directed by Francesco Rosi. It depicts the life and mysterious death of Enrico Mattei, an Italian businessman who in the aftermath of World War II managed to avoid the sale of the nascent ...
''.
References
External links
*
Cannes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Working Class Goes To Heaven, The
1971 films
Films about criticism and refusal of work
Films directed by Elio Petri
Films set in Italy
Films shot in Italy
Films scored by Ennio Morricone
1970s Italian-language films
Palme d'Or winners
1970s political drama films
Italian political drama films
Films with screenplays by Ugo Pirro
Working class in Europe
1971 drama films
Films about labor relations
1970s Italian films