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The Working Class Goes to Heaven (Italian: La classe operaia va in paradiso), released in the US as Lulu the Tool, is a 1971 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 and, implicitly, his struggle with the trade unions.

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (La classe operaia va in paradiso
original movie poster
Directed by	Elio Petri
Written by	Ugo Pirro Elio Petri
Produced by	Ugo Tucci
Starring	Gian Maria Volonté Mariangela Melato Gino Pernice
Cinematography	Luigi Kuveiller
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	17 September 1971 (Italy) 11 May 1975 (New York City only)
Running time	125 minutes[1]
Country	Italy

The film competed at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, where it tied with The Mattei Affair for the Grand Prix International du Festival, the festival's highest honour. In Italy, it also won the David di Donatello for Best Film.

Plot

Lulu Massa is a highly productive worker at a factory paying piece work 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, 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, Piedmont, with many of its personnel serving as extras in the film.[2]

Reception

In The New York Times, A.H. Weiler reviewed the film under its U.S. release title Lulu the Tool, calling it "both fascinating and sobering".[3] In Film Quarterly, 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".[4]

Clarke Fountain, for New York, said it rose above the level of a propaganda film, and deserved a place in Elio Petri's canon along with his 1970 Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.[5] However, in 1986 author Mira Liehm referred to it as a "weaker" Petri film, and "heavy-handed".[6] In his 2015 Movie Guide, Leonard Maltin gave it three stars, declaring it a "Superbly directed, thought-provoking critique of capitalism".[7]

Accolades

At Cannes, the film shared the Grand Prix International du Festival, the equivalent of the Palme d'Or of later years,[8] with The Mattei Affair.[3]

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref(s)
Cannes Film Festival	4 – 19 May 1972	Grand Prix International du Festival	Elio Petri	Won	[9]
		Special Mention	Gian Maria Volonté	Won	[10]
David di Donatello	22 July 1972	Best Film	Elio Petri	Won	[11]
		Special David	Mariangela Melato	Won
Nastro d'Argento	1972	Best Actress		Won	[10]
		Best Supporting Actor	Salvo Randone	Won

References

External links

• Classe operaia va in paradiso, La at IMDb
• Cannes profile

На других языках

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- [en] The Working Class Goes to Heaven

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[es] La classe operaia va in paradiso

La clase obrera va al Paraíso[2] (La classe operaia va in paradiso)[3] es una película de drama político de 1971[4] dirigida por Elio Petri. Representa el entendimiento de un trabajador de fábrica de su propia condición como una simple herramienta en el proceso de producción e, implícitamente, su lucha con los sindicatos.

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[ru] Рабочий класс идёт в рай

«Рабочий класс идёт в рай» (итал. La classe operaia va in paradiso) — социальный фильм режиссёра Элио Петри с Джаном Марией Волонте в главной роли. Лента получила приз «Золотая пальмовая ветвь» Каннского кинофестиваля 1972 года[1].

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