The latest from director Mladen Djordjevic has arrived at TIFF with a banger of a title — Working Class Goes To Hell — but it might confuse audiences who signed up for a wild ride based on its name and Midnight Madness programming slot. There will be no trips to the underworld or blazing infernos in this slow-burn meditation which takes the tools of terror to construct a metaphor for those who continue to be mired in the socio-economic fallout of venal corruption.
Deep in the rural Balkans, the citizens of a small town are fatigued in an ongoing fight over a factory that went up in flames five years earlier, killing several members of the community, and wiping out a host of jobs with it. The stench of arson by the former factory owners hangs over the whole affair, and as construction begins on an industrial sized incinerator to take its place, a court case to get some answers is continually delayed, showing no signs of being resolved soon. Even worse, the town’s mayor and politicians appear to be firmly in the pocket of the developers. This makes it harder for Ceca (Tamara Krcunovic), the local labor leader, to keep her small group of activists motivated. They’ve all seen and felt the effects of the factory’s closing — family and friends dead; job shortages; a rise in prostitution and domestic abuse — but their hope is nearly extinguished, sensing that they won’t get the accountability and change they’re seeking.
Enter the mysterious Mija (Leon Lucev). After years in prison he’s returned with an obscure book under his arm and rumors that he’s learned how to summon the spirits and command them to do his bidding. At this point, Ceca and her followers are ready to try anything, including his incantations and rituals which involve pentagrams, nudity, rituals, and dead animals. Mija brushes aside any talk of woo woo by repeatedly maintaining he learned everything in “group therapy.” But when Ceca and company start seeing changes, and a mysterious, mute man suddenly appears with a supposed ability with healing hands, is it the work of God’s rejected angel (read: Satan)? Or merely everyone’s own fervent belief in something otherworldly empowering them to take a more confident stand than they ordinarily would?
Working from his own patient screenplay, Djordjevic is just as uninterested in woo woo as Mija. What emerges instead is a study of what people in power will do to keep it, and what who those want power will do to grab it. And while genre fans will get a glimmers of the blood and vengeance they’re hoping for, Working Class Goes To Hell has headier things on its mind, exploring how corroded power structures exploit the weak by making them work to keep themselves exploited. It’s a circle more vicious than anything the prince of darkness could dream up.
The film requires a firm tonal balance between its more outré moments (a sex scene involving raw meat is one, another featuring the most animalistic cunnilingus in recent memory is other) with messaging that stays subtle instead of strident. Krcunovic is the counterweight to both sides, with a performance that illuminates the reserve that keeps her cool-headed and the stoicism that powers her leadership position in the community. But the film’s heart spreads from Ceca to those around her, as they each yearn in their own situations for the same things we do: love, connection, success, dignity.
Working Class Goes To Hell is a thoughtful effort from Djordjevic that finds its satisfying catharsis in the unlikeliest of places. As the film draws to a close, it shapes itself as a call to arms for anyone who has lost faith in the system to take matters into their own hands, no matter where the inspiration comes from. Because there is nothing more frightening to those in power than people with faith in themselves and their community.
Director, screenplay: Mladen Djordjevic
Cast: Tamara Krcunovic, Leon Lucev, Momo Picuric, Ivan Djordjevic
Producers: Milan Stojanovic, Mladen Djordjevic
Cinematography: Dusan Grubin
Production design: Zorana Petrov
Editing: Lazar Predojev
Music: Kalin Nikolov
Sound: Nenad Sciban, Momchil Bozhkov
Production companies: Sense Production (Serbia), Agitprop Ltd. (Bulgaria), Homemade Films (Greece), Adriatic Western (Montenegro), Kinorama (Croatia), Tangaj Production (Romania), Banda (Serbia), Cinnamon Film (Serbia), ERT (Greece)
World sales: Patra Spanou Film
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Midnight Madness)
In Serbian
127 minutes
