The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) User Reviews

Fight of Classes and Reactionay Mass

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 31 August 2009]

The efficient and productive Lulu Massa (Gian Maria Volontè) is an exemplary and beloved worker for his employers and hated by his coworkers. During a period of turbulence in the factory between the union and the radical students against the owners, Lulu accidentally loses one of his fingers. He changes his behavior and joins the movement of the students that wants to stop the factory with a strike as part of the fight of classes while the union wants a partial strike to reclaim benefits to the working class. When Lulu is fired, and gets confused with the new situation. But the union includes his readmission as a subject to be discussed with the owners and Lulu is hired again.

When I saw "La Classe Operaia Va in Paradiso" in the movie theaters many years ago, the fight between capitalism and socialism was in the top in the world and this movie depicted actually the fight between ideology, represented by the movement of radical students, and the reactionary mass without political conscience and formed by explored workers. Lulu represents the servitude of the working class to the monopoly of the capitalist class. Presently this important movie is dated and youngsters may not understand its importance in the 70's. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Classe Operária Vai ao Paraíso" ("The Working Classe Góes to Paradise")

Should be screened more often

[greenylennon · 8/10 · 27 July 2007]

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.

This is a politically-tinged, existential drama par excellence

[m-sendey · 9/10 · 5 September 2013]

A diligent blue-collar worker Lulù Massa (Gian Maria Volonté) is averse to rebellious fractions within his working place and students who express their resentment of overwhelming physical labour which Lulù and co-workers are constrained to do in factories. Notwithstanding, one day, once he loses his finger in his factory and discerns the first symptoms of madness in his behaviour, he becomes involved in protestations which the scathing board of directors frowns upon…

This is a politically-tinged, existential drama par excellence which succeeds in being both insightful and poignant in its exploration of human condition in the Italian working class whose members are destined for solely biological existence. The stark portrayal of the pointlessness of life reminiscent of Woman in the Dunes (1964) by Hiroshi Teshigahara. Mr Petri, whose political propensities are fully evident here, passionately crafts this material and engrossingly displays the everyday dilemmas of physical labourers whose actions come to eating, drinking and doing their work which is humiliatingly and moronically simple. The frequent juxtaposition of a man and a factory infuses into this film gloom and dreariness which is difficult to bear with. The indication that one might sweep away the meaningless of an individual only through sexual consolation is very disquieting and the depiction of the sombreness and the repetitiveness of each day of life solidifies the sepulchral tone. Just like Petri's earlier I giorni contati (1962), The Working Class Goes to Heaven is a blend of existentialism and neorealism polished to perfection in Petri's hands whose meticulous stylization renders the concept as sulky and austere as the sterile, industrialized decor of Il deserto rosso (1964) by Michelangelo Antonioni. Lulù Massa – the main character of this flick –is the outcome of the mechanization of the unit whose productivity is the only value for his employer. Lulù is the most assiduous worker which arouses abhorrence in his colleagues. He does not attach any great importance to his mental and physical health and he thinks that there is no big difference between dying in his factory and somewhere else. Initially, he cannot comprehend why everybody is against him, but once he accidentally loses his finger and notices that he embarks on following the lane of insanity through his obsessive demeanour towards order, he regains his sight and perceives the world differently.

Even though The Working Class Goes to Heaven is not as Kafkaesque as The Assassin (1961) and Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), it appears to refer to Kafka's short story A Report to an Academy which is about an ape which learns to behave like a human. During his visit in a mental institution where he meets a veteran ex-blue collar Militina, Lulù is shown an article from a newspaper which recounts a story of a chimpanzee which believes in its humanity. Petri seems to liken the Kafka's ape and Lulù, notwithstanding, whilst the monkey from Kafka's tale obtains a new identity by approving of milieu repressing it and adjusting to its new entourage, Lulù Massa restores his personality on account of a calamity and the stifling milieu of his factory, hence, just like in case of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Mr Petri once again turns the world of Franz Kafka upside down.

Besides dilating upon the harsh fate of the working class, the director likewise hints at the exploitation of labourers from the poverty-pervaded southern Italy. Other Italian intelectualists such as Pier Paolo Pasolini also alluded to this phenomenon. Mise-en-scene by Elio Petri is exquisite and thoroughly unfaltering in its exposing the major concept. The resonance of his last acclaimed opus is indubitably enormous. Apart from delving in the issue of alienation and helplessness, the highly flamboyant subplots reinforce the main theme and endow it with abundant background and owing to relatively deliberate pace, the content is never lunged too hastily.

The acting is simply excellent throughout the entire motion picture. Gian Maria Volonté conveys to his role such a great portion of galvanizing rampage that he ravishes with his commitment to his part which might be one the most powerful in his utter career. There are other phenomenal performers in the cast, such as facially distinctive Mariangela Melato, Flavio Bucci, and last but not least enthrallingly convincing Salvo Randone.

The subsidiary cinematography by Luigi Kuveiller is obviously a determinant of quality, but what emerges from his beauteous takes of impoverished flats of physical workers is the mutual sway between Bertolucci and Petri. Bernardo Bertolucci conceded his fascination with merging existentialism and neorealism in I giorni contati by Petri, and Petri seemed to be enchanted by the lighting and visual aspect in The Conformist (1970) which was visible in the case of The Working Class Goes to Heaven. The shots of indigent flats framed with gleams of blue radiance constitute a chilly, bitter aftertaste which exerts a beneficial impact on the other ingredients. The symbiotic soundtrack by Ennio Morricone is one of the most idiosyncratic elements and the flick would feel totally different with a distinct piece of music from another composer. Mr Morricone provides us with one of his most unusual and characteristic creations which is rapid, aggressive, contextualises with the ensemble absolutely perfectly and reverberates like a genuine machine.

Though the movie overzealously strives to inculcate Marxist doctrines in its viewers and Petri's appeal to social alignment is displayed here, it does not modify the fact that it is an exceedingly significant film which has to be analysed, discussed and considered to be a major motion picture which auspiciously encases the atmosphere of those days filled with protestations, but also exhibits a timeless struggle of a man attempting to retain dignity, despite difficult living conditions and tough work.

Sane world, insane world.

[ItalianGerry · 5 June 2004]

"The Working Class Goes to Heaven" stars Gian Maria Volonté, who appeared in earlier Elio Petri films like "We Still Kill the Old Way" and "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion." The Marxist director's critique of capitalist society is at play in this movie as in so many of his others. Volonté plays Lulù Massa, a lathe-operator in a Milan factory which pays by piece work. Lulù is a fast worker, the pride of the management and the bane of the workers who consider him a threat. The work is a nightmare of monotony, and the workers are continually timed and fined for underproduction. "Even a monkey could do this work," Lulù says.

Like the comic tramp in Charlie Chaplin's 1935 "Modern Times," he feels dehumanized, exploited, empty. His relationship with his mistress and her TV-mesmerized son is strained. He asks an older friend in an insane asylum, "How did you know you were going mad? A man has a right to know what he is doing, what he's useful for."

At the end of the conversation with his mad friend (Salvo Randone) at the asylum, the man begins to leave and Lulù inadvertently remains. The insane asylum seems normal, while the factory, the "real" world, appears insane.

Lulù ignores the worker movement and strikers until he loses a finger in an accident while carelessly overworking. He becomes a symbol for the ills of the factory, and a radicalization process ensues until he is fired for taking a stand against the managers.

Eventually re-hired and given a demeaning assembly-line job, he daydreams enviously of his friend in the madhouse.

Gian Maria Volonté gives the beleaguered hero a pathetic and comic dimension which is always convincing, performing with bold strokes rather than by subtle illumination. Petri's directorial technique uses a similar approach. A highlight is an uproarious scene of lovemaking in a Fiat with co-worker Mieta Albertini.

The film won the grand prize at Cannes in 1972. It runs two hours in its full version and 1½ hours in a truncated version peculiarly called "Lulu the Tool." It is a major Italian film from the 1970s.

This prizewinning movie should be reissued. Contains lessons for today's organizers that should be heeded.

[Kansas-5 · 10/10 · 16 June 2005]

Young radicals come in to organize a factory, which the company resists. The company stooge, Lulu is an older, super-competent machinist, the person whose production sets the company's impossible standard for the rest of the workers. He gets so upset and distracted as a result of the alienation of his peers, he cuts a finger off. The company abandons him as he recuperates, and he joins the struggle of the workers and the radicals who've come to organize them. The student and radical activists eventually get distracted by a new campaign, abandoning the workers in the battle they helped organize. It should be shown to all community organizers to help create respect for those on whom they depend for support of progressive initiatives.

Petri, Volante and Morricone

[PimpinAinttEasy · 9/10 · 24 August 2015]

"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)

The Working Class Goes To Heaven (Elio Petri, 1971) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 3 February 2009]

The Spirit of Social Justice of the May '68 uprisings is still very much alive in this heavy-going but compelling parable of the rise and fall in the fortunes of an Italian factory worker dubbed Lulu (Gian Maria Volonte'): starting out as the Boss' darling for being the exemplary employee and pacesetter of the company, the loathing of his co-workers (who despise him for how his excessive zeal makes their own lackluster performance look bad in the eyes of the manager) and his female companion Mariangela Melato (who never gets any piece of the action at night because of his constant fatigue) eventually gets to him one day – with the result that he loses his concentration at work and suffers the loss of a finger in an accident. This changes his whole outlook on life as he becomes engrossed in an extremist workers' union, finally makes love in his car to a virginal female co-worker/union member he is obsessed with, is quitted by his consumerist hairdresser companion and his surrogate son and, when he is given the sack at work and is on the point of selling off his belongings, another more moderate workers' union comes to his aid by winning him his old job back. Although there is obviously much footage here of socio-political discussions, scenes of picketing and police riots, confrontations between diverse unions, etc., the film also has that winning whimsical streak promised by its title and exemplified by amusing episodes in a mental institution (where Volonte' visits his cracked-up ex-colleague Salvo Randone), the quasi-surreal sequence of Volonte' taking it out on all his useless possessions (including a giant inflatable doll of Scrooge McDuck!), and the concluding description at the assembly line of the titular incident itself which Volonte' had in a dream the previous night. Ennio Morricone's inventively 'metallic' music underscores the robotic gestures of the factory workers who, despite slaving eight hours a day at their machines, are not even aware what becomes of the parts they produce! While the film may seem overdone and dated in today's apathetic age, it clearly hit a nerve at the time of its release winning a handful of international awards including the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Elio Petri's Working Class Drama

[Eumenides_0 · 7/10 · 6 June 2012]

Elio Petri directs his frequent collaborator, Gian Maria Volonte, in a drama about Lulu, an Italian factory worker contemptuous of his colleagues' attempts to get better pay and working conditions through their union. Lulu prides himself on being a productive worker, and the bosses praise him for his almost superhuman devotion to work. In spite of that, Lulu is just another worker scraping a meager job, living in a crummy apartment, with a woman he doesn't love very much. His personal life seems to amount to visiting a former work mate, who's now living in a mental hospital.

Lulu's outlook, however, changes when he loses a finger in a factory accident. Although the accident doesn't leave him disabled, it makes him spin out of his numb existence as he gets more interested in the unions' struggles. But if before he was indifferent, now he starts getting involved with radical extremists preaching a new social revolution, instead of the more moderate but realistic unions.

The movie is interesting because of the way it portrays the schism between unions: on the one hand, there's the traditional union, composed of workers, who just want to improve their lot, get a payrise. And then there are the Marxist-Leninist students and intellectual nutjobs who never put a foot inside a factory and who want to blow society up and rebuild it from the ashes. Petri is deservedly critical of the latter.

The movie shares similarities with neorealist cinema in the way it portrays the squalor and working conditions of ordinary people, but Petri isn't particularly soft on the working class. Their inability to get organised, their own selfishness, and the lack of credible leaders to inspire them, is nicely dealt with in here. The viewer expecting just propaganda will be disappointed.

Gian Maria Volente delivers a fine performance, especially in his mad outbursts of rage and madness. Petri has directed better movies, but The Working Class Goes to Heaven manages to tackle many of the issues in his oeuvre and so is also an indispensable movie for fans.

The Workers control the means of cutting their fingers off

[Bezenby · 6/10 · 3 March 2019]

This film is both fantasy and complete reality at the same time. Gian Marie Volonte plays an extremely efficient worker doing piecework in a factory, not even sure what the parts he produces are used for. At the same time, Volonte's precise rhythm and total concentration make him an object of hate amongst his fellow workers, all of him are continually time managed by snidey supervisors who mostly hide behind a yellow screen in an observation box. A large hand, index finger pointing down oppressively, is printed on the wall above the workers.

Volonte is a good worker but not good at anything else. His son lives with his ex-wife and fellow worker. He can't get it up for his girlfriend, and her little boy spends his time totally consumed by television. Exhausted from working all day, Volonte's only break from routine is to visit and colleague who has ended up in an asylum. Soon enough, Volonte begins to think that what this man is saying is making sense...

Outside the factory, radical communists screams slogans through megaphones and clash with the unions as the workers trudge in to start their shift. Volonte gets to work right away, but his fellow workers are grinding him down, and a lapse in concentration means that Volonte loses a finger and his whole world outlook changes.

Be warned, this film has so many scenes of people screaming into microphones, or crowds of people screaming at each other, that if you're not careful you'll end up with a headache. I'm guessing that might be part of intention of the film to a certain extent. With the loss of the finger Volonte loses his urge to be the best worker and starts to see how his life in the factory may not be a life at all, but all those folk screaming about smashing the system or how unity can get better rights, are they any less self-serving than those in charge at the factory?

Petri does everything he can to make the factory look like some sort of prison, continually filming through bars and even doing the same thing later with a school. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack also enforces the idea of some kind of industrial trap where the self is wiped away in place of production. The film is run down and grey on purpose, but there are a few bits of Petri's weird visuals here and there - like the strange diagram Volonte faces while getting psychologically tested.

The main reason for watching this is for Gian Marie Volonte, who comes across as a guy who isn't that smart, a man who makes an arse of everything and in losing the only thing he was good at starts unravelling. In the Italian language version you can hear how fragile and hysterical Volonte sounds. He seems to mess up just about every conversation and even when he thinks he's made the wrong choice, it dawns on him that he's not the only one that's shallow.

Good film this. Nearly two hours long though!

man, life and factory as a one absurd condition

[Fritte-3 · 18 March 1999]

The movie has a great power, first of all he gives to Lulu a mechanical soul, the camera follows his unhuman movements caused by too much work and let us understand something strange like madness. Then we have the political part: outside the factory people are pemanently screaming verses against owners like another machine that creates words, but the real impressing moment is inside the factory where man and machine became the same things so that the camera let us see the hidden mechanical part and the human movements togheter; the music too (by Ennio Morricone) adds a sense of robotic condition.