La classe operaia va in paradiso (1971)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Elio Petri

Writers:

Elio Petri (writer)
Ugo Pirro (writer)

Release Date:

17 September 1971 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Lulù is a real hard worker. For this reason he is loved by the masters and hated by his own colleagues...

Plot Keywords:

Worker | 1970s | Italy | Factory | Finger Cut Off

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Gian Maria Volontè	...	Lulù Massa
Mariangela Melato	...	Lidia
Gino Pernice	...	The syndicalist
Luigi Diberti	...	Bassi
Donato Castellaneta	...	Marx
Giuseppe Fortis	...	Valli
Corrado Solari
Flavio Bucci	...	Operaio
Luigi Uzzo
Giovanni Bignamini
Ezio Marano	...	The timekeeper
Adriano Amidei Migliano	...	The technician
Antonio Mangano
Lorenzo Magnolia
Federico Scrobogna	...	Pinuccio

Also Known As:

Lulu the Tool
The Working Class Goes to Heaven

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Novara, Piedmont, Italy

Company:

Euro International Film (EIA)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La maman et la putain (1973)

Should be screened more often

Elio Petri is one of the most important Italian directors: he made some wonderful films about mafia, politics, justice and social equality. Gian Maria Volontè is, in my opinion, the best actor of the last decades of Twentieth Century in Italy: hot-tempered, brutal, passionate, he infuses these traits to his characters. Together, they are an explosive duet. LA CLASSE OPERAIA VA IN PARADISO tells the story of Ludovico "Lulù" Massa, a workaholic machinist who loses his finger in a machine: with his finger, he loses himself, he suffers from alienation and tiredness. But I don't want to spoil anything. The actors are wonderful: Gian Maria Volontè and Mariangela Melato as Lulu's mistress, Lidia, are like a time-bomb, absolutely perfect, both forceful characters. The dirty and denatured cinematography by Luigi Kuvellier, the monotonous and dreary production design by the future Academy Awards winner Dante Ferretti and the repetitive and disturbing score by Ennio Morricone help to build the alienating life of a worker in a big, inhuman factory. And then there's the nervous and indignant direction by Petri that blends everything. It should be screened more often, especially in the schools, but I'm pretty sure that modern Italian boys and girls won't understand this film and, as a result, won't appreciate it.