The Organizer

1963 drama

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Overworked factory workers struggle to get rights until the titular organizer stumbles into town to give them some direction.

1) This would make a good, though lengthy, double feature with Matewan since they both deal with workers' rights.

2) I was won over immediately because of the opening credits, stills of the working class and a score that had fart noises.

3) Personalities for the central characters in this are created so effortlessly. They're nearly caricatures, but in a good way if that makes sense. Even before Marcello Mastroianni shows up to be a recognizable face for me, I had already fallen for a lot of these characters. They're shown in a way that forces the viewer to empathize. Even the characters defined by their flaws manage to be likable.

4) One heartbreaking moment--the revelation a horde of characters have when they visit one of their coworkers. A door is busted through, and you wonder how a family could live like this movie has this family living while knowing that it's probably sadly accurate.

5) My favorite character was a mustachioed outsider who just stood around silently with his hands in his pockets most of the time. He has one moment in a hospital that reminded me of Chaplin or Keaton.

6) This really captures the monotony of the workplace. There's a rhythm to the factory, but it's like a drumbeat resounding in this personal hell these characters are forced to exist in for 14 hours a day. It's a depressing place, even the dusty lunch that is miserable except for a lighter moment when a person belches or when there's a glimpse of knickers.

7) I'm not totally sure this balances tragedy and humor very well, but the movie's tone is engaging. It's an easier watch than Matewan, but that might have more to do with a bias I have against West Virginians than anything else. This movie's smooth though, and it flies by despite the lengthy running time.

8) Marcello Mastroianni is just as good as you'd expect him to be. The character's got some contradictions and he leaves a lot of questions unanswered about his past and future. A lot of the performance is carried by a pair of spectacles.

9) Teachers will appreciate the emphasis on the importance of education in this movie. It's not just a random mention or two either; it's a recurring idea. Adults need to learn to read in order to vote. One of the young worker's brother is chastised when he doesn't study very hard because a good education is a way out of the life the characters are trapped in. There are lots of references to characters not being able to write.

10) One of the best bits has to do with that inability to write. The factory workers are drawing names out of a hat, and a whole bunch of them have just written an X for their signature.