La classe operaia va in paradiso (1971)

Director:

Elio Petri

Writers:

Elio Petri
Ugo Pirro

Release Date:

17 September 1971 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A conscientious factory worker gets his finger cut off by a machine. Although the physical handicap is not serious, the accident causes him to become more involved in political and revolutionary groups.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Factory | Working Class | Seduction | Industrial Accident

Awards:

7 wins

Cast

Gian Maria Volonté	...	Lulù Massa (as Gian Maria Volonte')
Mariangela Melato	...	Lidia
Gino Pernice	...	Sindacalista
Luigi Diberti	...	Bassi
Donato Castellaneta	...	Marx
Giuseppe Fortis	...	Valli
Corrado Solari
Flavio Bucci	...	Operaio
Luigi Uzzo
Giovanni Bignamini
Ezio Marano	...	The timekeeper
Adriano Amidei Migliano	...	The technician
Antonio Mangano
Lorenzo Magnolia
Federico Scrobogna	...	Pinuccio
Guerrino Crivello
Alberto Fogliani
Carla Mancini	...	Worker
Orazio Stracuzzi
Marisa Rossi
Renzo Varallo
Eugenio Fatti
Mietta Albertini	...	Adalgisa
Renata Zamengo	...	Maria
Salvo Randone	...	Militina

Directed by
Elio Petri

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Elio Petri
Ugo Pirro

Produced by
Ugo Tucci	....	producer

Original Music by
Ennio Morricone

Cinematography by
Luigi Kuveiller

Film Editing by
Ruggero Mastroianni

Production Design by
Dante Ferretti

Set Decoration by
Carlo Gervasi

Costume Design by
Franco Carretti

Camera and Electrical Department
Antonio Annunziata	....	first assistant camera
Sergio Coletta	....	chief electrician
Sergio Emidi	....	key grip
Claudio Sabatini	....	assistant camera
Ubaldo Terzano	....	camera operator

Production Companies

• Euro International Film (EIA)

Distributors

• Globo Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• New Line Cinema (1975) (USA) (subtitled)
• Versátil Home Vídeo (2009) (Brazil) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Lulu the Tool" - USA (imdb display title)
"The Working Class Goes to Heaven" - UK (festival title)
"La clase obrera va al paraíso" - Argentina, Spain
"A Classe Operária Vai ao Paraíso" - Brazil
"A munkásosztály a Paradicsomba megy" - Hungary
"De arbeiders gaan naar het paradijs" - Netherlands (poster title)
"Der Weg der Arbeiterklasse ins Paradies" - East Germany
"Die Arbeiterklasse geht ins Paradies" - West Germany
"I ergatiki taxi paei ston Paradeiso" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Klasa robotnicza idzie do raju" - Poland (imdb display title)
"La classe ouvrière va au paradis" - France
"Työväenluokka nousee taivaaseen" - Finland (TV title)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Novara, Piedmont, Italy

Company:

Euro International Film (EIA)

Trivia:

Elio Petri's "La classe operaia va in paradiso" shows a very subtle cameo of Ennio Morricone, who also composed the original score of this film, awarded with a Palme d'or in the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. The Italian Maestro appears in close up for almost one minute as the anonymous-and obviously uncredited-blue collar who actions the cart, with both hands up and down, at the end of the assembly line in the factory. His repeated gesture immediately activates the "mechanical" music announcing the end titles.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La maman et la putain (1973)

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

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.