La classe operaia va in paradiso

Lulù Massa (Gian Maria Volonté) is an independent-minded worker who spends shift after shift on an assembly line. He, like everyone else, is paid per unit, but unlike the others he keeps breaking records – to the satisfaction of his superiors and the ill will of his coworkers and the union. The tempo is frenetic and the risk of injury plain enough. When it does happen, the trauma changes Lulù’s take on the world. A strike is inevitable. With his usual penetration and cynicism, Petri investigates how capable its members are of perceiving the conditions they work in, and to what degree that realization is blocked by "factory discipline” and the fear of losing their jobs and their very identity. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)