"Lulu the Tool" is yet another film that I watched because I loved Morricone's background score.
Lulu (Gian Maria Volante) is an efficient worker at a factory. His co-workers hate him because of his productive abilities. The radical communists at the factory gates try to get Lulu to join them to save the workers from exploitation by the factory's management. But Lulu is proud of his productive skills, he even brags to his wife that his body is like a machine. But one day, Lulu gets his finger chopped off in an industrial accident. Depressed and overworked, he decides to join the radical communists who want to destroy the system. This puts him at odds not just with the factory's management but also the union who seeks not to destroy the system, but better pay and working conditions for the workers. Lulu also visits a mental asylum where he talks to a former factory worker who is completely cuckoo.
While the film does underscore the plight of the workers, the film is not simply communist propaganda. The futility of labor. The futility of revolution. The position of the individual in a demeaning job as a factory worker and in a revolution where he has to suppress his individual desires for the good of his comrades. These are some of the themes that the director Elio Petri tackles in this powerful film. The radical communists are portrayed as ridiculous, with their loud speakers, yelling propaganda into workers ears as they make their way into the factory. Petri himself was an ex-communist.
The scenes at the factory have a manic and stylish quality about them with the workers and managers yelling at each other. These scenes are set to Morricone's pounding score in the background (I wonder whether the makers of Blue Collar were inspired by this score). The score is used to great effect in the factory and protest scenes. It has a very edgy proletarian quality and its impact is tremendous as the film builds up towards a frenzied ending.
Volante is sensational - what a transformation after playing the devious villains of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Fistfull of Dollars and Luckily Luciano. He evokes pity and a few chuckles as a crummy and loud mouthed working class slob.
Despite the heavy subject material, Lulu the Tool is a very entertaining and stylish film.
(9/10)
Lulu (Gian Maria Volante) is an efficient worker at a factory. His co-workers hate him because of his productive abilities. The radical communists at the factory gates try to get Lulu to join them to save the workers from exploitation by the factory's management. But Lulu is proud of his productive skills, he even brags to his wife that his body is like a machine. But one day, Lulu gets his finger chopped off in an industrial accident. Depressed and overworked, he decides to join the radical communists who want to destroy the system. This puts him at odds not just with the factory's management but also the union who seeks not to destroy the system, but better pay and working conditions for the workers. Lulu also visits a mental asylum where he talks to a former factory worker who is completely cuckoo.
While the film does underscore the plight of the workers, the film is not simply communist propaganda. The futility of labor. The futility of revolution. The position of the individual in a demeaning job as a factory worker and in a revolution where he has to suppress his individual desires for the good of his comrades. These are some of the themes that the director Elio Petri tackles in this powerful film. The radical communists are portrayed as ridiculous, with their loud speakers, yelling propaganda into workers ears as they make their way into the factory. Petri himself was an ex-communist.
The scenes at the factory have a manic and stylish quality about them with the workers and managers yelling at each other. These scenes are set to Morricone's pounding score in the background (I wonder whether the makers of Blue Collar were inspired by this score). The score is used to great effect in the factory and protest scenes. It has a very edgy proletarian quality and its impact is tremendous as the film builds up towards a frenzied ending.
Volante is sensational - what a transformation after playing the devious villains of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Fistfull of Dollars and Luckily Luciano. He evokes pity and a few chuckles as a crummy and loud mouthed working class slob.
Despite the heavy subject material, Lulu the Tool is a very entertaining and stylish film.
(9/10)