Workforce, 2019.
Directed by David Zonana.
Starring Luis Alberti, Jessica Galvez, Ramiro Resendiz, Rodrigo Mendoza and Jonathan Sanchez.
SYNOPSIS:
The marginalised workers helping to decorate a luxurious home take advantage of an opportunity to move into the property, and make it their own.
Inequality is an issue all over the world, with those at the top taking every opportunity to squeeze those further down the class ladder. That’s the driving force behind Mexican filmmaker David Zonana’s debut feature Mano de Obra, known in English as Workforce. It’s a snappy, but steadily paced drama that has an intriguing message at its heart about the tyranny of class, but it also serves as a warning about the potential issues of crafting a supposed utopia of equality within a world which is incompatible with that idea.
Francisco (Luis Alberti) is one of around a dozen labourers helping to renovate a huge Mexico City home, which has recently been bought by a businessman (Rodrigo Mendoza). His brother falls to his death while working on the building and, despite the fact he’s teetotal, investigators declare he was drunk at the time, refusing to pay compensation to his pregnant wife Lupe (Jessica Galvez). When an opportunity arises to move into the house, Francisco snaps it up, establishing the luxury building as a home for himself and the families of his co-workers.
Workforce is a very low-key debut from Zonana, but one that is perceptive and intelligent about the injustices foisted upon working people. Initially, there’s a Kafkaesque feel to the story as Alberti’s determined character politely and fruitlessly asks for answers from the homeowner and his foreman (Ramiro Resendiz), to little response, while being forced to go about his business. He’s a likeable presence initially, struggling with his own cramped, leaky-roofed home while handing out money to his co-workers, deeming their needs greater than his.
But one of the triumphs of Zonana’s smartly-written script, and Alberti’s clever performance, is that Francisco becomes more of an anti-hero as the story wears on. Once he has the opportunity to position himself in a place where he can wield power, he does so, and the second half of the movie feels like an inexorable journey towards capitalism and corruption intruding into the apparent socialist utopia that has been established with Francisco’s help. When his de facto dominance is challenged, problems begin to arise.
Workforce is a strange film in terms of its style and pacing, with the colours washed out and grey, as if depicting a world without hope, even within the confines of the building at the centre of the story. The pacing is defiantly methodical and slice-of-life in its approach, even within the film’s brisk sub-90-minute running time. There’s an urgency to the characters that rubs up against the lack of urgency in the storytelling. The effect is a sort of distance that is intriguing in representing the immense divisions in this society, but also may put off those expecting a more conventional story akin to Ken Loach’s recent output.
There’s an abruptness to Workforce, which is certainly one of its strengths, but also a potential weakness. This is particularly true of the ending, which comes swiftly and with narrative brutality. Zonana’s film is about hope, absolutely, but it’s also about reality and Workforce never shies away from depicting the struggles of the real world even in the midst of its fable-like story. This is a movie about solidarity, but solidarity that seems to be on the turn, on the verge of curdling into something else entirely.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist and wrestling fan. Follow him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for movie opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.
