The Working Class Goes to Heaven

Last updated

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso)
The Working Class Goes to Heaven movie poster.jpg
original movie poster
Directed by Elio Petri
Written by Ugo Pirro
Elio Petri
Produced byUgo Tucci
Starring Gian Maria Volonté
Mariangela Melato
Gino Pernice
Cinematography Luigi Kuveiller
Music by Ennio Morricone
Production
company
Euro International Film
Distributed byEuro International Film [1]
Release dates
Running time
125 minutes
CountryItaly

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (Italian: La classe operaia va in paradiso), released in the US as Lulu the Tool, is a 1971 Italian satirical [4] political drama film directed by Elio Petri. It depicts a factory worker's realisation of his own condition as a simple tool in the process of production. The film was awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the 25th Cannes Film Festival, [1] [5] sharing it with Francesco Rosi's The Mattei Affair . [3]

Contents

Plot

Lulù Massa, 31 years old, has been working in the same factory for 15 years. Because the management uses his efficiency to justify their demands for higher output, he is disliked by his colleagues. Lulù cares neither for the unionists who demand higher pay rates and reduced working hours, nor the students outside the factory gates who appeal to the workers to rise up against the factory owners. From time to time, he visits his former colleague Militina who has been interred in a mental institution after collapsing under the working conditions. Militina fantasizes about militant actions and "breaking the wall".

When Lulù loses a finger in a working accident, his attitude changes drastically. He joins a radical fraction among the workers who call for a strike, has an affair with a female co-worker and invites the students to move into his flat. As a result, his lover Lidia leaves him together with her son. After the unionists have reached an agreement with the management, the employees return to work, except Lulù who has been fired for his agitational behaviour. Lulù goes to see the student protestors, who declare that he is of no use for them because he is an individual case.

Lulù, now on the verge of madness, only vaguely realises that Lidia and her son have moved back in and that the unionists have convinced the management to rehire him. Back in the factory, working in an assembly line with other colleagues, he recounts a dream in which he broke a wall, finding himself and his co-workers emerge from a fog.

Cast

Gian Maria Volonte as Lulu. Classe-Volonte.png
Gian Maria Volonté as Lulù.

Production

The factory scenes in The Working Class Goes to Heaven were shot in a factory in Novara, Piedmont, which had shut down and been occupied by its former workers, with many of the personnel serving as extras in the film. [2] [6] Other shooting locations included the Ospedale Maggiore di Novara and the Istituto Tecnico Industriale OMAR. [6]

Release

The Working Class Goes to Heaven premiered at the 1971 Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero ("International exhibition of free cinema") in Porretta Terme, Emilia-Romagna. [7] Petri later claimed that, after the screening, filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub demanded that the film be burned. [8] Other sources attribute this statement to film critic Pio Baldelli  [ it ]. [9]

Reception

The film's reception by the Italian press was mixed. The Segnalazioni cinematografiche lauded its "solid cinematographic language" and the precise portrayal of its central character, but criticised the "overabundance of themes and some long-windedness". [1] Natalia Ginzburg in La Stampa accused the film of being superfluous and confusing, held together only by Gian Maria Volonté's presence. [2]

In the Spring 1973 volume of Film Quarterly , James Roy MacBean compared The Working Class Goes to Heaven to the prison drama The Brig as a "jarringly abrasive" portrayal of factory work. [10] The New York Times critic A. H. Weiler called the film "both fascinating and sobering" upon its 1975 New York premiere. [3] Contrary to this, author Mira Liehm referred to it as a "weaker" Petri film and "heavy-handed" in her 1986 book on Italian Cinema. [11]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Italy</span>

The cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Italy is widely considered one of the birthplaces of art cinema, and the stylistic aspect of Italian film has been one of the most important factors in the history of Italian film. As of 2018, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, one Academy Award for Best Picture and many Golden Lions and Golden Bears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elio Petri</span> Italian filmmaker (1929–1982)

Eraclio Petri, commonly known as Elio Petri, was an Italian film and theatre director, screenwriter and film critic. The Museum of Modern Art described him as "one of the preeminent political and social satirists of 1960s and early 1970s Italian cinema". His film Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, and his subsequent film The Working Class Goes to Heaven received the Palme d'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gian Maria Volonté</span> Italian actor (1933–1994)

Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist. He is best known for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967).

<i>The Mattei Affair</i> 1972 Italian film directed by Francesco Rosi

The Mattei Affair is a 1972 Italian drama 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 Italian oil and hydrocarbon industry to US companies and developed them in the Eni, a state-owned oil company which rivaled the "Seven Sisters" for oil and gas deals in Northern African and Middle Eastern countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariangela Melato</span> Italian actress (1941–2013)

Mariangela Caterina Melato, sometimes billed as Maria Angela Melato, was an Italian actress. She is most remembered for her roles in films of director Lina Wertmüller, including The Seduction of Mimi (1972), Love and Anarchy (1973), and Swept Away (1974). In cinema, she also appeared in films of Claude Chabrol, Elio Petri and Vittorio De Sica, and on stage in productions by Dario Fo, Luchino Visconti and Luca Ronconi. Her roles in English-language films include the 1980 science fiction film Flash Gordon.

<i>The 10th Victim</i> 1965 film

The 10th Victim is a 1965 science fiction film directed and co-written by Elio Petri, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Ursula Andress, Elsa Martinelli, and Salvo Randone. An international co-production between Italy and France, it is based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim".

<i>Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion</i> 1970 Italian crime drama film

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion is a 1970 Italian satirical crime thriller film directed by Elio Petri, starring Gian Maria Volonté and Florinda Bolkan. It is a psychological, black-humored satire on corruption in high office, telling the story of a top police officer who kills his mistress, and then tests whether the police would charge him for this crime. He begins manipulating the investigation by planting obvious clues while the other police officers ignore them, either intentionally or not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ugo Pirro</span> Italian screenwriter and novelist

Ugo Pirro was an Italian screenwriter and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 Cannes Film Festival</span>

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.

<i>We Still Kill the Old Way</i> (1967 film) 1967 Italian film

We Still Kill the Old Way is a 1967 Italian crime film directed by Elio Petri. It is based on the novel To Each His Own by Leonardo Sciascia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvo Randone</span> Italian actor (1906–1991)

Salvatore Randone, known professionally as Salvo Randone, was an Italian stage, film and television actor.

<i>Todo modo</i> 1976 Italian film

Todo modo, also known in English as One Way or Another, is a 1976 Italian satirical political drama film directed by Elio Petri starring Gian Maria Volonté and Marcello Mastroianni. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Leonardo Sciascia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flavio Bucci</span> Italian actor (1947–2020)

Flavio Bucci was an Italian actor, voice actor and film producer.

<i>Property Is No Longer a Theft</i> 1973 Italian–French film

Property Is No Longer a Theft is a 1973 Italian-French comedy drama film directed by Elio Petri.

<i>His Days Are Numbered</i> 1962 Italian film

His Days Are Numbered, also titled Numbered Days, is a 1962 Italian drama film directed by Elio Petri.

<i>Good News</i> (1979 film) 1979 Italian film

Good News is a 1979 Italian satirical comedy film written and directed by Elio Petri and starring Giancarlo Giannini. It was Petri's last film, produced by him and Giannini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezio Marano</span> Italian actor

Ezio Marano (6 August 1927, Brescia – 26 April 1991, Rome) was an Italian actor.

<i>Steel</i> (2012 film) 2012 Italian film

Steel is a 2012 Italian drama film directed by Stefano Mordini.

Classe Operaia was a Marxist monthly magazine which was published in Italy for three years between 1964 and 1967. Its subtitle was "political monthly of the workers in struggle."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenia Balducci</span> Italian actress, screenwriter, and director (1933–2022)

Armenia Balducci was an Italian actress, screenwriter and director.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "La classe operaia va in paradiso". Cinematografo (in Italian). Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "La classe operaia va in paradiso" (in Italian). Associazione Museo Nazionale del Cinema. 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 "Screen: 'Lulu the Tool,' Italian Drama". The New York Times. 12 May 1975. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  4. ↑ "Elio Petri: Satire, Italian Style". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  5. 1 2 "La Classe Operaia Va In Paradiso". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  6. 1 2 "La classe operaia va in paradiso. Retroscena di un film novarese" (in Italian). Associazione Museo Nazionale del Cinema. 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  7. ↑ "Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero". Festival del Cinema di Porretta Terme (in Italian). Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  8. ↑ Curti, Roberto (2021). Elio Petri: Investigation of a Filmmaker. McFarland. p. 296. ISBN   9781476680347.
  9. ↑ Lang, Simon (2023). Ästhetik und Politik im Werk des italienischen Filmregisseurs Elio Petri. edition text + kritik. p. 10. ISBN   9783967078770.
  10. ↑ MacBean, James Roy (Spring 1973). "The Working Class Goes Directly to Heaven, without Passing Go: Or, the Name of the Game Is Still Monopoly". Film Quarterly. 26 (3): 52–58. doi:10.2307/1211346. JSTOR   1211346.
  11. ↑ Liehm, Mira (1986). Passion and Defiance: Italian Film from 1942 to the Present. University of California Press. p. 254. ISBN   0520908120.
  12. 1 2 "La classe operaia va in paradiso". Associazione Museo Nazionale del Cinema. 2005. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.